Knock, Knock

Leon and Natalia have a lot in common. They are my blue eyed,  brown haired children.  Leon was the super nursing champion of the world, and Natalia is giving him a run for his money.  Leon is a crazy little explorer who is always puttering around trying to discover how things work and who has never let things like large dogs in his path or objects placed five feet off the floor discourage him.  Scarily, Natalia is much the same.  Leon logged many, many hours in the sling, and at Ree's preschool they joke they have never seen Natalia below the neck because she spends so much time in the sling. When all else failed, Leon convinced us he would only sleep at night if he could sleep touching me.  Natalia is much the same, and our mattress is back on the floor so I can safely leave her to take care of other kids during the night and because it so nicely complements the crown molding in the bedroom. 

However, they handle jealousy differently. I've always been the one to tuck the kids in to bed so I could get in a few last cuddles each night.  When the boys were younger, I tucked Michael in first since he is an early to bed, early to rise kid who needed to get to bed as early as possible. Plus Michael was easy to tuck in - he would just chug a bottle and pass out, and I never knew how long Leon would want to nurse. Each night I would sit Leon on the living room floor to play with toys while I fed Michael on the couch. And inevitably, Leon would sit there, flapping his arms and crying hysterically. He refused to crawl to me. He was paralyzed.  Mommy was cheating on him with another baby!

Now it is Natalia's turn to sit on the living room rug and play with toys, waiting for her turn with Mom, while I tuck in her siblings.  She isn't much of a fan either, and she often cries too.  However, Natalia is much more willing to take matters into her own hands.  Each night I take the boys into the bathroom individually to brush teeth and go potty, and then three of us sit on the floor in their room and sing bedtime songs.  (Currently, "Yellow Submarine" is requested every night with me singing the lyrics and Michael adding in the background comments and noises.)  While we were singing last night, we heard a knock on their bedroom door, which was shut to allow us privacy as we butchered the Beatles' classic.  I ignored the knocking and kept on singing.  We heard more knocking, and the boys got curious.  After a third round of knocking, they insisted I open the door.  They were quite shocked to find Natalia outside the door, on her hands and knees, clearly proud of herself that she had left the living room, crawled down the hall, and found us.  That girl knows how to get things done!