Featured Child?

When I hit the "publish" button a little while ago, I began to wonder whether or not I had indeed "featured" my other children more often, as I'd thought, than Arthur, as mentioned in the post below. In the past year, only pictures spoke of any one child in particular. There must be something else making me think this way. Perhaps it is the middle child syndrome. We have, technically, three middle children. However, the first middle child, Aragorn, is also the first boy, so he has his very own genre and specialness. 

The "middlest of the middle children" as my second princess likes to call herself, is well aware of her position and keeps us on our toes with her reminders and vivacious nature. We don't often forget that Alienor is around. She is either being helpful beyond her years, or...presenting us with new challenges to stretch our parental resources.

Thus, Arthur, the youngest of the middle children, is really the one being quiet on the sidelines most often. Unless he is slugging someone with a boffer, (a safer alternative to conventional weapons.) For awhile, it looked like he would forever be the baby of the family, but then came Puck, the "real" baby. Arthur's status as benjamin seemed well-established and he loved it.  He protested, but not very persistently, the arrival of his little brother, rather like Lily with Aragorn. I always felt that they both gave in a little easily to losing mama's exclusiveness. Aragorn had 3 1/2 years before Alienor came along and Alienor never gave up.

In any case, each child is a different and special person in their own way. That's what makes raising them and homeschooling such an interesting endeavor. Having the liberty and challenge of adapting lessons and opportunities to their individual skills and learning styles keeps me alert and enthralled in my daily tasks. Do I have all of the answers every day? Must I answer that? But each day is a new chance; for me and for my wonderfully diverse family. May your life remain ever fascinating and may you remain ever fascinated with life.