A Month of Gratitude - Day 19 (One on One Time)

 When there are five kids in the family, it's easy to get lost in the shuffle.  I try to work in one-on-one time (or at least a minimal number of other kids around) with each.

Lately, Jude and I have been having breakfast on the way to therapy.  "Officially," it only takes just over an hour to get to the hospital.  In reality, we are tagging on to the tail end of Philadelphia rush hour, and sometimes it can take almost two if there is even a minor fender bender, so we leave ourselves two hours to get there.  It seems excessive, but it actually works well - we just leave right from dropping off Celia and Matthew.  If we have extra time, we either stop at a playground or for breakfast, depending on if he's eaten or not.  Today, he had breakfast but was still hungry.  Thankfully, there was not much traffic so we had time to stop to eat (instead of racing through the drive-thru window), but the whole way up the Blue Route he was talking to the cars ahead of us, "Hurry up! MOVE! I'm hungry!! You're wasting my sandwich time!"

We finally made it and he got his "sausage hamburger." He then told me all about what he planned to do with his therapists, and I got a lovely dissertation on the differences between the Lego Batman and Lego Star Wars games.

A few times when Matthew has been late getting out of school, I've walked over to meet him.  It's a bit of a hike (almost two miles each way, but it sure won't kill me!), but on the way home we talk about everything from school to movies to whatever else pops in his head.  He's finally big enough to ride in the front seat, so we're starting to get into those "I'm not looking at you so I can talk to you" conversations.

Damien gets a lot of hospital time, too.  He's a bit like a Pavlovian puppy - doctor first, then snack. I think he likes the fuss made when he shares.

Care for a strawberry?

Celia, being the girl of the house...we shop.  She talks about anything and everything -- to the point where sometimes I have to tell her to hush already so she can focus on trying clothes on.  We do some other "girl" things - like the hair salon, etc. - but shopping is her thing.  She also loves Justice.  The louder, the glittery-er, the blingier, the better!  Last time we were there, I texted Neal that there were more sequins and glitter than backstage at a drag queen beauty pageant!  She's also good at sniffing out sales -- that's my girl!!

Luke and I get a lot of time - more than most of the others - because he's my errand boy.  Often when I need to go grocery shopping, he's the one I take with me because he's the biggest and can push the cart when it gets full.  (I broke my elbow about 18 months ago, and the pull of the cart still hurts it.)  Sometimes to reward him, we'll grab a quick dinner somewhere -- much like any other soldier, he marches on his stomach.

I remember this meal - he just started working with Neal a little bit and was telling me about the differences between hard and soft bottom bushels baskets (most notably - hard bottoms are WAY heavier) and that he struggles with moving them around on the hand trucks.  He's still growing and just under 5'5" tall.  As he puts it -- "I'm like a T-rex!!  Big head, little arms!!"


I'm thankful for the time I get to spend with each of kid individually.  It's fun to see the different personalities in their own spotlights!




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