Marriage Plans

Jane:  "Why is Margot saying she wants to marry Eric when I’m going to marry him?"

Eric: "Jane, I can just marry both of you."

Jane: "But I’m going to marry David, too."

Eric:  "I know David, so that’s fine."

Jane (flinging back of hand over forehead):  "this is so confusing . . ."

The Burdens of the Middle Child

Me:  "Margot, I'm going to Washington, DC early tomorrow morning, so I may not see you before you go to school - but I'm just going for the day, so I'll be back before you go to bed."

Margot:  "Oh, Mommy, I'm going to miss you so much!!"

Me:  "I'll miss you, too - "

Margot:  "I'm going to miss you as much as a baby piglet would miss its mother, if the mother had a lot of other piglets and wasn't paying very much attention to that piglet.  Because baby pigs really love their mothers, you know?  And if they don't get a lot of attention from their mothers, they really, really miss them.  I'm going to miss you that much, Mom - I really am."

Note to self:  plan one-on-one activity with Margot ASAP.