the king of the world problem

I had some fun photos from the past few days to upload, but our archaic internet connection is not cooperating. Actually, archaic probably isn't the right word, since I'm not sure "archaic" and "internet" belong in the same sentence. But my point stands: sometimes our internet crawls and I long for the days when we used a 56k modem to connect to the world wide web. [It's not really as slow as a 56k modem, but some days it seems like it.]

Anyways. Enough complaining about the internet.

Did you know that one of our neighbors bought a drum set?

There's nothing like apartment living to drive home the truth that I am not the king of the world. But some days I still like to dream that I am. And let me assure you, if I was the king of the world, I would certainly outlaw drum sets in our apartment complex.

So the drum set got me thinking. If I had to vote for one of my children as "king of the world", who would I choose?

If Julianna was king of the world she would color every day, with a never ending fresh supply of markers and crayons and paints. She'd have a band of admirers gathered round, ready to join in the coloring fun, provide expert advice in response to questions like, "do you think I should make the bird's wings green?" and tape all her creations to any nearby available wall surface.

It would be fun for a while, but in the end, Julianna would probably get tired of all the attention and abdicate the throne.

Her little sister would gladly step up. And thrive.

Lydia loves to be served. To be coddled. To be held. It's a tricky personality to read, at least for a mother. There are times when she is crushed by my suggestion that I could help her put on her socks. Tears well up in her eyes and her face crumples as she tells me that she "will do it by myself". And she does.

There are other times she chooses to wait, refuses to do something that she can do perfectly well on her own, and insists that I do it for her. This does not go over well with mommy, who will not be manipulated by a 2 year old who wishes she was king of the world.

If she was king, I think she'd tend towards tyranny. Everyone would live in fear of the sock problem - do I suggest that I could help? Or watch the king proudly accomplish all her independent feats on her own?

Oh gracious me, she'd be quite the king.

And Isaac. If I had to choose between the three of them, right now I would definitely vote Isaac for king of the world. I've got him wrapped around my little finger!

In some ways he's super outgoing. He loves people. He is (usually) happy in anybody's arms. And he's got a killer smile that can make anyone feel like he loves them best of all.

But the truth of it is, after 6 months of loving and cuddling and feeding, Isaac loves his mommy best of all. Being his favorite is a role I'm happy to have for a while. There's nothing quite like being the mommy of a 6 month old.

And so, in anticipation of my role as "mommy of the 6 month old king", I'd definitely vote for Isaac as king of the world.

His first royal decree would outlaw drum sets in apartment complexes.