Mama Byrd

A friend was asking me yesterday about the hardest part of having three kids, and I have to say it’s the competition for attention. All of my kids, but especially Elizabeth, are constantly competing for more attention. Yesterday, the competition was particularly fierce.

Lannie and I set up the slip and slide and the baby pool in the backyard so that the kids could play outside and not melt in the 101-degree heat. Somehow, a slip and slide means, “Let’s have a contest to see who can do the ___ slide” (fill in the blank with best, funniest, silliest, most likely to be on America’s Funniest Home Videos).

Anytime someone (usually Caleb) initiates a competition, Elizabeth ends up crying because she didn’t win. She was particularly distraught yesterday when Phillip actually won a competition for the “silliest” slide.

Phillip also happened to have a very runny nose brought on by all of the water, so when I said, “Well, I think I know who will win the competition for runniest nose!” Ellie’s competitive nature kicked in again. I wish I had a camera, because her attempt to win the runniest nose competition actually would have made it into America’s Funniest Home Videos.

Filed under: family, funny kids on August 10th, 2007