Pages

Thursday, July 25, 2013

making a splash with other littles

Dear Em,
You're an only child, & if all goes as planned will remain an only child (I'm told by at least 50% of the people I talk to that we'll change our mind, but so far so good). You're also the only grandchild on both sides of our families. Sure, you interact with other littles at school, but you spend a lot of time playing with adults or by yourself.

When we bring you to the park or the beach, you almost hungrily look for other children to play with. It makes my heart kind of sad, & I find myself feeling a little guilty about it. I try to fill the possible void with fun adventures with your little friends (like this, this, this, this, & this).

Plus, while we don't have any littles in our immediate family, your daddy has a big family with tons of amazing cousins who have sweet, little kids. Last week we headed to Grandma & Papa's house to cool off in the pool, & you were thrilled to find cousins to play with. They seemed just as excited to spend time with you. There is a little bit of an age gap. M & A are 7 years older than you, but they didn't seem to mind.

You asked M if she wanted to jump off the diving board with you (3 weeks ago you were petrified of jumping off the diving board & now it's all you want to do). The two of you spent the next two hours jumping into the pool together. You two must have jumped more than 75 times. Every time would go about the same. You would both plug your noses & make a big splash as you jumped. You surfaced first with a huge grin across your face. As soon as her head surfaced, you met her with excitement. "Hey M! Want to jump again?" "Sure," she would say every time with such a sweet smile. It made my heart melt as I watched you two play.



After a while, A wanted to join in on the jumping fun & all three of you made a splash.



All the adults laughed as we watched the spectacular jumping. Grandma asked me if I was getting baby fever seeing you play with other littles. I just smiled as you all played so sweetly together. Nope, no baby fever. I don't see room in my life or heart for another child of our own, but I feel so very fortunate that we have family & friends that you can enjoy these precious moments with. Even though you're an only child, you don't have to feel like the only child. I couldn't really ask for anything more.

I love you so,
Mommy

No comments:

Post a Comment

While my letters are addressed to Em, we enjoy hearing from all our readers. Comments are always welcome. The ideas, inspiration, & support we get from other readers is one of the reasons I write. I try to respond to all comments. If you click the "subscribe by email" button underneath the comment box, you will get notifications when I have replied. Thank you for stopping by!