It must be hard to be a 5th child

Currently Alex is sleeping peacefully for his nap in his bassinet in our closet. He is almost 7 ½ months old and still he doesn’t have a room or a crib to call his own yet. According to my records Samantha was pulling and standing up by now; but if Alex tires one of those tricks he is going to find himself on the floor.

Alex is one of my happiest babies. He smiles anytime you look and him and everywhere we go we have strangers goggling over him because he always rewards them with the biggest smiles and grins. Being the 5th child in a family can be a little hard, but I am so impressed with how he is coping and making sure he gets his share of attention. For example if he is in the high chair and I am busy doing other stuff I have noticed that he will watch me and the instant I look up and see him he gets super happy and smiley. This trick works and gets him attention because I always pause to stop and talk to him—anything to keep that big grin smiling.

The other day I was putting him down for his nap, a little late due to daylight savings. I was in the middle of his diaper change and Samantha and Jacob started banging on the front door because they were home from school. I finished wiping up and due to the constant banging I decided I could finish the diaper change in a minute. I ran downstairs to open the door and greet my older children home. I talked with my friend who had dropped them off for a few minutes and then sat on the stairs looking though backpacks and papers from school. I remember hearing Alex fuss, but since I had just put him down for his nap I ignored him at first. When he really started to sound mad, I sent Samantha upstairs to help him find his binki to go to sleep, while I finished up with Jacob. I was shocked to hear the report that Alex wasn’t in his bed; because of course I had never put him there. Apparently he had scooted out of my bedroom into the bathroom and was upset about being stuck in a corner naked on cold tile. I’ve seen him trying to scoot for the last week without much success, so I find it very funny that he figured it out while no one was looking.

Luckily I am not the only one guilty of forgetting about him. Last night was one of those crazy nights where I was trying to do too much. I had an activity at the church but agreed to let Samantha go to the school to try out for the talent show. I convinced Scott to meet me at the school to pick the kids up so I could go straight to my activity. He got the kids home and headed straight to the kitchen to get them some dinner. Off in the distance he heard Alex crying and went to go check on him, only to find that he had left him in the car.

So far he doesn’t seem affected by these small accidents, but we need to be more careful or his is going to grow up with serious issues of abandonment. Good thing he is still so young.

As for the bed, we should have that crib up soon. Early last Saturday morning there was a neighborhood garage sale, so while Matthew was still sleeping I stole his bed out from under him to put it sale it off. I pulled the mattress off, so as soon as we replace Matthew's bed, there will be an extra mattress free for Alexander’s crib that is still sitting in a closet.