Alone with my Ace

Bo is attending a winter preschool camp in the morning, so this means that Ace and I get to spend some much needed one-on-one time.

Navigating the exhilarating and rewarding yet chaotic waters of parenthood is hard enough with one child tugging on your heart string. And now that we have 2 it’s really tuff to feel like you are giving each child the individual and attentive love they need. This is something that I always have guilt about.

The second child never gets the same undivided attention as the first and how will that change him and will it be detrimental?  They play together a lot now that Ace is older, whereas Bo was an only child those first few years, and I gave Bo so much more individual time. It’s just not possible with two kids, and with a child like Bo, who is NOT a wallflower, the noise level gets insane with everyone trying to be heard.

It really does make me sad for Acey, though, but maybe I’m more sensitive about it than I need to be. It’s a constant push-pull of trying to be fair and cognizant of how this dynamic affects the second child, but also trying not to micromanage their true natures.

My girlfriend and I have talked at length about this subject, because she feels the same as I do. But as long as they’re smiling and healthy and happy, we must be doing something right, right? It does take a village to raise a happy child, and even though Ace’s dynamic as the second child is different with me and Gus and even the extended family, he also has something Bo never did. He has a hero and a best friend to wake up to everyday. Bo never had a brother until Ace. Ace was born with one.

So now that I just went on that tangent and I’m crying…my point was that I LOVE this time with Acey alone. He is such a different boy one-on-one. So curious and talkative and simply a love bug. This little man has given me more compliments than a Mom can need in a lifetime. My personal favorite is when I put on lipstick he tells me my “teeth look so beautiful and white.”

So here we were at Starbucks having a great time and silly conversation and then as we walk to the car, Ace stops to say what I least expect, “Momma, I miss Bobo.”