The second child often gets overlooked. There's lots going on with two kids, but I tried to document Rachel's antics as well. I did the best I could.
She was going to a babysitter on a semi-regular basis the year she turned three. In March of that year, she got her head caught in a Barbie’s dollhouse. Marlese said she didn’t cry but softly and worriedly called, “Marlese, Marlese.” Marlese had to knock a piece out to get her head free. Rachel said, “I be not ‘posed to.”
Also in March, I was cradling her in my arms and looking into her eyes. I told her it reminded me of when I used to nurse her—when she used to get milk from me. She innocently asked, “When you were a cow?”
At age 2 1/2, Rachel knew her left from her right, and she drew faces very well. She also dressed herself, expressing it this way: “I how know dress.”
In July 1988, I caught Rachel and Nathan arguing about best friends. He claimed he was her best friend, and she insisted he wasn’t. They shared the bath at times, and he washed her face that night. She told him, “You’re a friendly guy.”
Nathan’s granny and grandpop took him with them for a week after visiting here first. When he was saying his farewells, he told his dad: “I’ve gotten used to the way these trees look.” I think he was a little nervous. When the week ended, I went to Cincinnati to meet him and bring him home. He was delighted to see me, but Rachel had missed me terribly. (I think I was gone two nights.) For a few days after, she’d scream pitifully, even getting to the point of sobbing after me: “I love you, Mama!” I asked her once why she cried so much. She said, “I don’t know, Mama. I like you and don’t want to cry.” What a dear!
Very early on, Nathan wanted to ride the bus. He got on the wrong bus once through no fault of his own and rode for an hour instead of 30 minutes. He told me he “cried to death,” but he didn’t really seem to mind. But the bus-riding stopped in November when a substitute bus driver left off all the elementary kids and picked up all the HS kids – while Nathan still rode around. After those kids all went home, he finally noticed Nathan. I was panic-stricken and called the principal every 15 minutes. He finally made it home two hours late!
When Rachel started University Preschool in the fall of 1988 she was very proud of herself because the first week there, she got to hold the flag for the “Pledgiance of Allegiance.” She especially liked flushing the toilets there. (Apparently, ours at home were too loud for her tender ears.)
Rachel said that the best thing about preschool was that she got to be with her Julie Booley, her best friend since birth.
At age 3 ½, Rachel thanked me for giving her part of my chocolate chip cookie from Hardee’s: “Thank you that it’s got chocolate in it, Mama.”
When Rachel graduated from her first year at preschool, she hopped across the stage to receive her award for Good Citizenship. Her classmates voted on her because she’s the one who always tried everything.
At 4 years of age, I caught Rachel tossing her shirts out of her drawer one by one. I asked her what she was doing, and she said, “Looking for my chickenhead!” What she really wanted was her turtleneck.
At age 6, Nathan didn’t get the Ninja Turtle Sewer System he had wanted for Christmas and was worried that he didn’t get it because he had spelled sewer incorrectly as “suyer.”
Nathan became a Cub Scout, and Rachel was very much looking forward to becoming an “Oreo.” She meant Brownie.
Tying up the kid talk for now ….
