I frequently joke about the shoddy parenting Danny occasionally gets from us as the second child. Clearly he's not suffering (broken arm aside), but it's definitely different for him. In many ways I think it's better - I don't feel the need to amuse him all the time, and as a result he's gotten fairly proficient, for a two-year-old, at entertaining himself. On the other hand, he doesn't get to experience very much independent of his big sister. So, today I opted to take him to the aquarium while Clare was at school. (It worked in my favor that my little geek loves school so much that she didn't see this as a huge inequity.) We invited Crystal and Kylie to join us and had a merry morning. The age of two really gets such a bad rap. Sure, there are terrible moments (last night's dinner preparation comes to mind). But there are also so many hilarious and heart-warming times, because this is when their personalities really begin to evolve. I so enjoyed going through each exhibit at Danny's "look at that!" pace, and listening to every word he uttered about the creatures, as opposed to getting sidetracked by Clare's imaginative interpretations. At the same time, it was fun for him to have Kylie there to buddy around with. They definitely engaged each other at different points, each encouraging the other to notice their surroundings. Who knows how many more years Danny will be willing to have his mommy tag along on his dates?
