A weekend for a four year old

Studies show that birth order can have an affect on personality. Being an only child until I was twelve (when my younger sister came along), I have had no input to this theory. Until this weekend.

We had a busy weekend with soccer tourneys and camp recitals but my girlfriend offered to take my eldest to her cottage on Saturday night and we will pick him up tonight. What a difference in a four year old when you take away an older sibling. It is like he came out from the shadow he had been covered by.

Sunday was a day for Aiden - he invited a friend over and they spent the day walking along the Ottawa River looking for snakes, frogs and snapping turtles. Of course, my son was the only one to actually FALL into the water. TWICE. But, that is what we have come to expect from him. He was giggly and light-hearted, only showing his somewhat melancholy self a couple of times.

And bedtimes were SOOOOO easy. There was even time for Todd to catch up a couple of chapters on his Harry Potter book DURING THE DAY!!! People ask me whether there was a difference going from two kids to three kids and I usually respond that once you have one, you may as well have a litter. It is amazing that having only two children around can be perceived as such a break.

I love my eldest dearly and cannot wait for him to return but it was nice to allow my four year old the chance to blossom without having an older sibling to keep up with.