Tabby and Me

The last couple of days it’s just been Tabby and me. We’ve had two evening social engagements and since they have been more with my friends than Matt’s and Ben hasn’t been feeling well, Tabby has been my date. Or maybe I was her date last night to her friends’ birthday party.Whatever.

I love both of my kids equally dearly and I love them together. Their interactions are one of the best things about being a parent. But it is also a very nice treat to get to hang out with my kids one-on-one. I get to hear their thoughts and only their thoughts, without interference from others. I get to focus all my attention on just one kid instead of having it split between two. It is a very relaxing change of pace.

So after two days of hanging out with my sweet FOUR year old. I realized a few things.

1. She remembers EVERYTHING. She repeated back to me all the details of our planned visit to NYC pretty much verbatim. She correctly identified three types of birds and four different flowers. She remembered the correct names (not just the silly lyric names) for the songs on her Beethoven’s wig CD.

2. She is super sociable. Both parties put her in close proximity with people she did not know very well if at all. With very little prodding if any she was able to politely ask the hosts for things she needed (a cup of lemonade, directions to the bathroom). And at the first party she gamely played photographer, taking my mom’s point and shoot around and capturing loads of images of people.

Granted these are things I knew on many levels but spending these evenings with her have crystallized these parts of her being for me. I really really enjoy hanging out with her. She is fun and funny. She is smart and silly. She’s pretty dang wonderful. I’m so proud.