Babied

It's hard for the youngest child not to get babied by the rest of the family. Add in a few special needs and a youngest child who didn't start walking until she was 29 months old, and you have Olivia, a child who very much enjoys being the baby of the family.

My brother's son is an only child and the differences between him and Olivia are often striking. Jaxon is exactly a year younger than Olivia and yet he's so much more independent.

My mom watches Olivia four days a week and Jaxon one to two days a week. She mentioned recently that when it's just her and Jaxon, she can actually leave a room without him and he's fine for up to a half hour without coming to find her.

Olivia, on the other hand, will stand in the doorway, crying at my mom who is IN SIGHT out on the deck attempting to do someething that requires her to not have a three year old at her heels.

Some of this comes from the fact that Olivia has never had to be alone. She's never really had to entertain herself. She's always either had me, Tom or my mom or even Alyssa by her side, keeping her company.

My mom is still attempting to get her garden in but with the rain that has poured down this spring it's been tough. Yesterday, she thought that the three kids would play up at her swingset/kitchen area while she worked all of twenty feet away. But no. Alyssa wanted to 'help' and Olivia wanted to be where her sister was. So while Alyssa helped, Olivia stood at the side of the garden and whined.

My mom was not amused.

She ended up giving up on the garden for the day and taking the kids in for a snack. Yeah, the 'baby' got her way in the end.

It must be hard to be the baby.