In the middle.

I know I write about Miriam, a lot, on this blog. But - she is such a character. She always says the right thing, at the right time. Even though she is the middle child, I often feel (ok, and maybe hope) that she will never have a 'middle child' complex.  Miriam is too, in-your-face, too, LOOK-AT-ME, too all encompassing, to ever feel like she was ignored or neglected as a child.  Plus, her daddy thinks she is the greatest thing in the world and he spoils her, even when he shouldn't.

Yet, there is one place where Miriam is in the middle, and that is in the car!

We tried to have Lucy in the middle for as long as possible because Seth can be pretty good at calming her down during long car rides, and Miriam loves looking out the window and watching her baby sister. But when Lucy outgrew her infant carrier and still needed to be rear-facing, we had to re-organize the seating arrangement, even though we knew putting Miriam and Seth beside each other would cause some fighting on those long trips.

We decide to escape, and take a drive on Saturday evening. We (meaning, I) packed up our dinner and we headed to a beach about 45 minutes north of us.  Getting there wasn't a problem, both girls fell asleep and Seth kept himself occupied by staring out the window.  We ate, and played until it was late, hoping the girls would fall asleep in the car on the way home as well.

I think we made a mistake.  We brought jelly beans with us to the beach, and the car ride home was a realization that my kids, who never get caffeine, should really not be allowed sugar either!
There was a lot of crazy behaviour, a lot of good laughs and a whole lot of silliness.  Which I really don't mind. It was fun, and Seth was laughing along with her and they weren't fighting.

Sunday was a different story.  Seth had a rugby festival in Lindsay.  Which according to google was almost a 2 hour drive, but we made it in 1. As we drove into Lindsay we passed a Dairy Queen (this is 8am) and Eric says "If Seth scores 3 try's today, we will get ice cream on the way home!"

I think this was a joke. We have never witnessed Seth getting a try, although my brother assures me that he did, in fact, score one last weekend. Seth is not all that athletic.  Either he doesn't try to be or he is just not talented in that way.

So Seth started the 4th game of the day.  He loves the games of rugby, so he has been playing with  smile on his face (unlike when he played soccer or ball hockey). First couple minutes and he gets himself a try. the crowd (i.e.:the parents) go nuts. I think everyone is aware of Seth's lack of abilities/effort and we are all happy and shocked.  Minutes into the second half he scores again. Here is where he looks over at Eric and smirks. Eric and I look at each other and I say "You promised ice cream for 3!"

Seth says to his team mates, "I need one more try and then my dad needs to get me ice cream!"

So I don't know whether it was his team helping him out, but he put forth a mighty effort and scored within the last minute of play!  Coach says to Seth, "In hockey we call that a hat trick!" Seth replies to coach, "My dad calls that Ice Cream!" bahaha!!
So we get ice cream. It is a total disaster. I don't know WHY we thought Lucy needed her own ice cream cone, but that won't be happening again for an other year!

We wash all the children thoroughly with the water we have left, wipe them off with baby wipes and change clothes as needed.  We get back on the road and Miriam falls asleep.  Here is the downfall to sitting in the middle.

Poor little Miriam.  Seth was making her make funny faces, moving her lips to say funny things, pulling ears and opening eyes.  Lucy got in on the action too.  Lucy started poking her face, grabbing her shirt and pulling her hair.

Here, Miriam is definitely the middle child!


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