Lissy is the middle child. I don't mean that in facts; I mean that in attitude. "Lilia, Lilia, Lilia!" I can already hear her saying that when she's in junior high. Maybe we should just own up to our horrible parenting and rename her Jan. I didn't think I would ever make a middle child of mine feel outshined. Afterall, I am the dead center middle of a family of 10--I know about being a middle child. My three oldest siblings got a little cash on a monthly basis when they left for college. My last three siblings got a lot of their tuition paid for by our parents. Us in the middle? Nada. (Mom and Dad: I'm not trying to hurt your feelings. I know things were different and we did get pell grants and you helped when you could, so I'm really not complaining, but for story affect, it sounds better to be grumpy.)
But Lissy seems to be in constant competition with her older sister. Whenever Lilia is gone to preschool, Lissy is a delight. She's helpful, plays well by herself, and loving. When Lilia gets home from school--instant bad attitude. I hope she realizes as she gets older her awesome laugh and personality. She doesn't have to be like Lilia; she's Lissy. And we love her for it. So this weekend, we thought we might do something special with the girls, but on a one-on-one basis. I took Lissy to the movies with me, while Kulani took Nohea and Lilia to the store with him. We had a tear-dropping good time. Honestly, I don't know how long it has been since me and Lissy did something with just the two of us. I tried to make it feel like a real date. I put her in the back seat of the car and asked her if she was warm enough. I brought her a "nice, cozy blanket" (Lissy' favorite term) to keep her comfortable. We drove to the movie, and she chatted the whole way about everything in her life. We made it to The Waterhorse a little late, but we stopped to get a kid's size box of popcorn with drink and a candy. We sprinkled the popcorn with her favorite ranch sprinkles (this one movie theater in Orem offers popcorn flavorings from Harmon's grocery store). And we took our seats in the theater. Lissy loves movies, and she was enthralled with this one. Part way during the movie she sat on my lap, never to leave until the end. She said to me, "Can we do this every night?" After the movie, we ran to our car, and I got her snuggled into the back seat. I got a text message from Kulani saying to call him. He asked if we'd like to meet him and the other girls at Outback for dessert, so we joined their date already in progress. They'd had a great time at Wal-Mart, Lilia's favorite place, and he'd of course, bought them each a little something. As soon as we met up with them, Lissy's attitude soured. She didn't appreciate anything Lilia was saying to her. I almost had to excuse ourselves because of my date's bad behavior. After dessert, as we were driving home, Lissy fell asleep. I hope her bad attitude was due to her tiredness. Whatever the case may be, the night was truly awesome, and I'd like to thank Lissy for making it so special for me.
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It sounds like you both had successful dates! I stayed home from work one day this week and stayed with Minnie and we had such a good time. We got a fun computer game from the library and she loves to do the games and then dance to the music. Some days are rough, but this day was pure joy! I better write about it in my journal or else I'll forget that there are pleasant moments...
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