Third child syndrome

There is this thing that happens somewhere between the first child and the third child. You become so...uncaring, indifferent, lazy,realistic. With the first child you sterilize everything from pacifiers to shopping carts. You would never let your first child dig in the dirt (pin worms might get under their skin). Your first child wears a bib to every meal--and never goes anywhere with stains on their clothes. Is that a little dribble of pee-pee in the diaper? CHANGE IT! Never mind that the diapers are state of the art and the child does not even know... You sometimes wake the child after a time because you miss her-or to make sure she is breathing. The first child never goes barefoot and has a schedule that must be kept at all costs, the first child eats a balanced meal-no McDonald's, soda, candy...very limited cookies-all of that good stuff.

So, that was Lindsay. We now have Haley. It's a good thing she is my third child because she would not have made a very good first child. She loves mess. She loves dirt. Germs? Her best friends! Her best times have been spent digging in piles of dirt with her hair sticking up.



She goes barefoot as she climbs to the top of the fort outside. Her clothes are stained and sometimes don't match. Her hair (sparse as it is) has only been brushed a couple of times-mostly by Lindsay. Her teeth get brushed-when we think of it. She eats m&ms for a nutritious snack. She sleeps when and where I can get her to (schedule schmedule). And by this time you have learned: YOU NEVER WAKE A SLEEPING BABY.



In between these two is the middle child. I'll leave it with this: middle child syndrome.