In Praise of a Large Family

This morning, Auntie Ofnoisykids took most of the noisykids to visit 'Amish World,' a theme park where one can live like the Amish for a day. It is located near Waco. Not surprising.



Wife of dadwithnoisykids, dadwithnoisykids, and three of the noisykids - the 15-year old eldest daughter, the 14-year old boy, and the 14-month sweet baby girl - stayed behind. The reason why is not important. What was very interesting to observe is how the baby reacted when most of her playmates left. She actually grabbed her 3-year old brother(closest in age to her) and dragged him back into the house. It is not surprising that the 3-year old did not fight her, because the children always seem to be extra patient and giving to the baby of the family.



After the other noisykids left, the baby suddenly found she had a new thing to deal with that she had seldom experienced: boredom. Her closest siblings were gone, and playing with Mom and Dad just didn't cut it. We would take turns playing with her on the floor, but we could tell she was not as interested in playing with us.



For a while she took a nap with Mom, but after that, she was up looking for her siblings again. She missed her two older sisters closer in age to her(9- and 7- years old) and her immediate older brothers(6- and 5- and 3- year old).



I have said this before, and I will say it again: one of the greatest gifts we have given to our children is the gift of siblings. This is not just with my youngest daughter. I have noticed it with my sons, especially how they will sit back and relax at the end of dinner and just enjoy talking about whatever rather than start cleaning up the dishes. It is heartwarming, and always brings a bit of a lump to my throat as I repeatedly tell them to get a move on and clean up the kitchen.





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Feeling the need for a prayer? My friend the Roman Sacristan has a great one for this season of materialisticism. He just broke 6,000 hits - congratulations!

I just broke 2,000 - someone from Portugal was randomly skating along when he landed on my blog. He or she will have a shopping cart to fill with all the items he or she can collect in 5 minutes in the Gift Shop - when he or she appears at the home of the Scorpion Stalking Duck Blogsite to claim the prize.


He or she has twenty more minutes.

Tomorrow some of the boys and I have to cut some grass. We took pictures last time: