Abby was all girl, with twirly pink Barbie pajamas, princess high heels, and a lovely silk rose to carry. From the first hello, Cole was smitten. And, as a typical boy, he thought wrestling, pushing, and screaming were the best displays of affection. He also thought civil disobedience would impress and spent more time in time-out than any other weekend in his life, especially on the last day of their visit when I became so exasperated that I banished him to his bedroom. Poor Abby didn’t know what to think, although she soon warmed up to the nightly wrestlemania bouts and games of jumping off the furniture onto Rob.
Although we had loads of fun visiting the Children’s Museum and Aquarium, I had the best time watching the kids interact (Jay was the tag-along, third wheel as is his lot in life as the little brother). Abby sings constantly and at one point, Cole accompanied her on the xylophone. (Later, when I asked Cole what his favorite part of Abby’s visit was, he sighed dreamily, “Her singing. She sings lots of pretty songs.”) Another time, we found the two of them snuggled in Cole’s tent-bed reading books, then overheard Abby say, “C’mon Cole, let’s go lie in my bed.” It was hard not to flash forward a decade or so and imagine Cole sneaking little red-headed girls into his room.
The cats were a little less fond of our visitors since they brought their dog Reggie. Jetsie went on the offense and after two attacks, which left Reggie cowering in the corner, spent the weekend locked in our bedroom. At first Jay was scared of Reggie. His only experience with dogs has been with the neighbors’ yippie, jumpy, ADD chiuaua. I was very happy that by the end of the weekend, Jay was petting the dog. I imagine Reggie left our house very glad that Abby is a girl and an only child.
