Loved

As we were driving home from the Y on Friday, my sweet middle child asked me, with his thumb in his mouth and little four-year-old voice, "Why does everyone like Cawowine more than they like me?"  I must admit I was sort of taken aback by that comment.  I wanted to just sort of say, "Oh, they love you, honey" and move onto something else.  However, I decided this concern was something I should address.  Afterall, I know that he sometimes gets the shaft as the middle child, and I don't want to encourage the development of a middle child complex or anything.

"Grant, people like babies for some reason.  Caroline is still sort of a baby, and they think she is cute with her pigtails and tutu.  It's not that they don't like you--they just see her as a baby.  When you were that little, everyone paid a lot of attention to you, too.  Plus, she's in Child Watch all morning so they spend a lot of time with her."  Does that sound like a good response?  I also assured him that we love him very much, but I'm afraid that it did not really suffice--at least, not in my mind and heart.

I must admit that it sort of threw me for a loop.  I did not think young kids paid that much attention to that sort of thing, and I wondered how many times I have unknowingly hurt him or other children by admiring their younger sibling's hair, clothes, talents, etc.  So I must say, Grant, I love you very much and so do so many other people.  I love your sweet smile, your enthusiasm for trains and other machines with wheels, your friendliness, your eye dimple, your thumb-sucking/nose-rubbing habit.  I love cuddling with you and reading stories to you.  I love seeing you play with your friends and hearing you sing and say Bible verses I didn't know that you knew.  We feel so blessed to have you in our family, and I never want you to think that we love you less than your brother or sister.  You are LOVED!