Second-Born

This morning was another preschool morning for Caleb, but this time he was over at his friend Jake's house while I kept the 2 younger boys here for a playdate (1 yr old Hannah stayed at her house to nap).  It was really fun having just Noah and Luke here today because they don't usually get the one on one playdates like their big brothers had when they were little, and it was very interesting because they responded very differently to the circumstances than I had expected.  Instead of running around like crazy and constantly having sharing issues like I assumed would be the case, basically the whole 2 hour playdate (minus lunch and when I got them in the same tent for the above picture) was taken up by them playing very quietly in their own little corners totally happy to just be alone! 

Of course I was thrilled with the success of the morning and happy that I could get dinner totally made and whip up some homemade pancakes for lunch completely on my own in the kitchen (I actually at one point started to get bored by not knowing what to do with myself!), but it got me wondering why Noah and Luke were so content when they are normally each very active kids.  It only took about 3 seconds until I realized the main reason was probably because they are the second-born in their families and are 1) used to a lot less attention from mommy (or anyone) in general and 2) almost always bombarded with their older brothers telling them what to do, what to eat, what to say, what to wear, what to read, etc. - so quiet freedom is a seldom joy for these two little guys! 

Here's Noah even more secluded in his little tent looking at books:)

"We're the oldest ones in the house and we're loving it!" 

(Notice Noah's Maryland sweatshirt that I found at a clothing exchange last week?!)

Over at Laura's house, Caleb and Jake were learning all about Thanksgiving by making these super cute Pilgrim hats (chocolate dipped marshmallows on an upside down fudge cookie) and painting signs on which they had written things that they are thankful for (if you click on the picture you can enlarge it so you can see Caleb's thankful ideas including hotdogs and kiwis!).