Minus one child.

I completely forgot how easy it was to have just one child.  I’m not trying to belittle the job that any of you parents of one do, but having just one child is cake compared to having two (or more, I’m sure).

You see, on Thursday Brinley asked me if she could have a sleep over at Mimi’s (my mom’s) house.  I’m not sure if the idea originated in Brinley’s mind or Mimi’s but that’s a moot point.  She’s slept there a few times before when Mimi was babysitting but this was the first time she had asked to sleep over just for fun.  After running the idea by Scott, I said that it was ok.  We were already out shopping with Mimi when the idea came about and it made no sense for me to go back home and get her an overnight bag so we did what any bargain shopping mom would do – we went to the clearance rack at Kohls.  After picking out some princess pajamas and an outfit for the next day we made a pit stop at the car to get her some underwear (I always keep a few spare pairs there in case of an accident).  And Mimi has a toothbrush for Brinley at her house.

So we left the store and I took Nora while Brinley went with Mimi in her car (she has a carseat in Mimi’s car too) and off we went our separate ways.  When I got home, Nora was ready for a nap.  I put her in her crib and felt almost at a loss for what to do.  Usually when she’s napping I spend alone time with Brinley playing games or doing things that Nora makes impossible.  But I didn’t have to do any of that.  So what did I do?  I cleaned the kitchen and swept the floors and did some laundry – boooooooring!  Then I caught up on some blog reading while waiting for Scott to get home from work.

When Nora woke up from her nap, we played and I made her dinner.  She was a joy.  She never whined or cried or screamed.  When Scott got home from work we hung out, just the three of us.  Now of course we missed Brinley but it was really nice to spend some quality alone time with just Nora.  We put her to bed and then watched some TV.  She slept until 8:45am!  When she woke up we brought her in to bed with us.  Then we all got up and had breakfast.  She was a peach the entire time.

This made me realize something.  Nora gets a bad wrap.  And it’s because of Brinley.  They’re both amazing, wonderful, smart kids but when they’re together they get on each others nerves and often bring out the bad side in one another.  Nora is always getting into Brinley’s projects and Brinley is always touching and taunting Nora unnecessarily.  Good ol’ sibling rivalry.  Don’t get me wrong there are plenty of times when they’re loving on each other and playing really well, but those seem to be overshadowed by the times when they’re annoying each other.

It was really awesome to be able to focus on just one child for a little while.  Brinley had our undivided attention for 2 years and 8 months before Nora came into our lives.  Nora has never had our undivided attention.  I realize that is what happens when you have more than one child but it makes me feel a little bit bad for Nora.  It will be nice when Brinley is in school this fall three mornings a week and I get to spend some one-on-one time with Nora.  I’m sure she’s going to love it!