One by One

Together, but not.

10 years ago I thought I would never be a mom of one child let alone two.  Here I am a mommy of two beautiful children who make me want to pull my hair out at times.  Having two children only 17 months apart can be on the top list of stressful.  I have days when I realize that I no longer have two in diapers and the last child is almost ready for potty training.  I still have my challenges everyday. 

On occasion I have special one on one time with each child.  It seems so effortless to communicate with Thing One or Thing Two on our special one on one time.  My whole focus is one that one child and I seem to learn so much about them as an individual.  Thing One is actually a lot calmer when Thing Two is not around.  He seems to focus a lot better on a task and his thoughts are clear as well as his speech.  He is also not quite as loud. I'm thinking it's because he doesn't have to compete with Thing Two's incessant loud chatter. 

Calm

When Thing Two is alone with me, we can focus on things I know best.  Girl stuff.  She likes to play with my jewlery and pretend she is putting on my make-up.  I have to admit I soak up this time with her.  There are things that only a mom and daughter can share sometimes.  We've gone on shopping trips and we can just look at different clothes, and dress up items in the toy section.  She is a lot more patient than Thing One on a normal day and these are the times I can actually see how observant she is of the world around her.  I'm not constantly interrupting her thoughts while I have to remind Thing Two to stop what he is doing or to leave his sister alone. 

Observing. 

I often think what it would be like to just raise one child. Parenting is hard enough with one child, but adding another into the mix is just wild.  Each child feeds off each other and sometimes I feel as though one is losing out in their basic personality.  Then I think where would they be without each other.

They bring out the best in each other and protect each other.  Sure there is a lot of fighting and arguing, but for the most part they are each other's best friend.  Things would be much easier with one, but with two it's a life of fun.

If you have more than one child what do you do to create alone time with you?  Do you think your child is different alone than with their sibling?