Sunday, July 19, 2009

Isabelle Time

For three years Isabelle led the blissful and carefree life of an only child. There were always two parents with nothing else to do but cater to her happiness and we were only too willing to oblige. Having a little sister has brought its own joys to Isabelle's life (always having a playmate, a baby to dress up, being Mommy's special helper) but occasionally Isabelle realizes there has been a fundamental shift in her life. One day Jason came home from work and picked up Madeleine and we were both talking to the baby. All of a sudden Isabelle came over and, with a look of consternation on her face, said to me, "Mommy, somehow you're only making Madeleine happy and nobody is making me happy." I love how she added the "somehow" as though it was almost impossible for her to believe that she was not receiving all the attention.
Isabelle really has been a wonderful helper and is so kind, patient and gentle with her sister I decided it was time for a day out with just Isabelle. We had a great afternoon together, painting pottery at Color Me Mine and then going out for dinner and ice cream. I think she had a good time being an only child again for one afternoon.

Even with hundreds of items to choose from Isabelle managed to find Tinkerbell hidden amongst the plates, pitchers and figurines.
Carefully sponging Tink off before painting.
Doing her best and most careful work.
Four hours later we were finished with our masterpieces. We did take a break for dinner after a couple hours but that's still a pretty good attention span for a four-year-old!
If you look closely at Tinkerbell you'll see that she somehow ended up with purple demon eyes. Maybe they'll look a bit more cheerful after our pieces have been fired.
Time for a dinner break!

6 comments:

Molly said...

Ha! Isabelle and I had strikingly similar comments about the arrival of our sibling. I believe my mother asked "What's wrong honey? Are you not getting enough attention?" I replied "Mommy, I'm not getting ANY attention".

Don't worry Isabelle, it's worth it. Siblings are the best

Jennifer said...

Love her comment! That made me smile.

Gigi won't be so gracious, I'm sure.

Eastiopians said...

You are such a good mommy! I can't wait to have special days with my girls individually...yay!


Theresa

Mandy said...

So fun! Even though my kids get upset over "mistakes" they make while drawing, they have always been so proud of their work when they pick up the pottery they painted. Eyes are the hardest though.
Looks like you girls had a very special time!

"Are These Kids All Yours?" said...

Yep....that is how our household is too.....we have tried to do some things with either one or a few children instead of all of them. An advantage we have is homeschooling because there are times when they get one on one times and they love it. It is hard to adjust. Hard to be an older sibling sometimes. Awwwww.

Kristi J said...

we try to take our girls out by themselves and they always insist that the other one goes...We've never made it yet out without both girls on what's suppose to be an individual night out..They just never remember what it was like without the other one since they are so close in age, i guess...cute pics, kristi