attachment issues, hermit crabs, kids' perception of separation. dogs, pyramid scheme

A Growing Pyramid Scheme of a Family

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Our family is adjusting to missing our friends from down the street for the next two years, and it is difficult to return to the semi-normal life we usually enjoy. As they were leaving, I took the picture above which has all but their youngest by their front door.  As is our norm, we were all silly and happy despite the imminent distancing. 

The hardest part for me  has been J getting sick this weekend leaving me to deal with understandably emotional kids.  They would never attribute any of it to their friends leaving because they aren’t introspective enough yet.  Still, at night they are praying for them, and their face lights up when ever we get a text about their trip or new home.  They want to see the texts as if reading them for themselves will put them closer than mom’s reading the texts to them.  The communication must be theirs.

Our family is growing as a result of their moving away though.  We agreed to look after their 2 hermit crabs.  When one “died,” J threw it in the trash.  Then to brighten O and A’s days after the move out, we went to Pet Smart and bought two more, one for each of them.  A named hers “Cutie” and O named his huge one, “Captain Crunch.”  Of  course the next morning, the trash moved.  Long story short, we now have just what we needed, 4 messy hermit crabs.

Of course, the story can’t end there.  You see, they have 2 dogs, Annie and Daisy.  Air France told them they could take the two dogs with them.  When they arrived at the airport, they were told they could only bring one of the two dogs.  Then they were told there wouldn’t even be enough time in Paris to get even one dog loaded onto to the second plane.  Thankfully, J had been keeping touch with them to see how the kids were handling the process.  With a plane leaving at 10, J went and got the two dogs whom we had been taking care of for the last week while they readied for the move and put their house for sale. We will have both of them for at least another month till the mom comes back for a business trip in November. 

Because I think in terms of numbers and counting is the most basic way of thinking of numbers:

I am one person.
J and I are a couple.
A, O, and K are our three kids.
We have four hermit crabs: A1, A2, Cutie, and Captain Crunch
For a time, we have 5 dogs: Kimba, Rexy, Fizban, Annie, and Daisy.
 
As I think about this, I find myself wondering if this is a pyramid scheme or a spinning top.  Of course I can’t help but think about which way crap falls.  Here’s hoping it’s as I wrote it, a pyramid scheme. 
 
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Fun Kid’s quote of the week:
 
We got our kids build-a-bears at big moments in their lives like adoption or in my daughter’s case before her Fontan heart surgery.  She named him “Surgery bear”, and this week she was complaining to me, “Surgery Bear is so annoying lately.  He keeps saying ‘Sex Sex sex’ over and over again.  It’s like it is the only thing on his mind.”
 
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With that written, I end this day where childcare began with “Daddy, I forgot to put on the pull-up.”  It ended with K pulling her diaper off and peeing on the corner of her crib where the pad doesn’t cover.  So with PJ’s now zipped up backwards such that she can’t undo them, a bed changed, and this post written, I am ready to declare this day a draw. 
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