Mother Hen

Today I was cleaning our guest bedroom/office while the kids were sitting on our bed watching a cartoon. I heard Charley get off the bed, walk down the hall to her bedroom, and then return to my bedroom after a few seconds. A few minutes later I heard the same thing . . . she hopped off the bed, walked down the hall to her room, and then headed right back to my room. And then this pattern happened a third time, so on her way back to my bedroom on this trip, I asked Charley what she was doing. She responded, "Oh, nothing Mom." Then I became suspicious and asked her where Zander was. She responded, "Sleeping on your bed." Well, I thought to myself, sounds like a pretty good situation to me. But after a minute or so, I realized that Charley MUST have been up to something, even if Zander was asleep, so I decided to peek in on the situation.

Sure enough, Zander was fast asleep. However,
he was neatly tucked in with one of Charley's favorite blankies that she sleeps with, he had Charley's water cup that she takes to bed within grabbing distance, and he was snuggled up to one of her all time favorite stuffed animals, her pink bear.

When Zander fell asleep, Charley took it upon her self to make his nap a bit more comfortable . . . so what I heard was her going back and forth to her room, fetching various items to make his sleeping experience more pleasurable. What a nice sister.

A few minutes later I heard Charley softly saying, "Don't worry honey, it's okay, I'm right here. Don't be sad, I'm right here." When I peaked in the room again, I saw Zander sitting up, rubbing his eyes with a grumpy and confused look on his face, trying to decide if he was going to be mad or not. Meanwhile, Charley is sitting next to him, comforting him and trying to convince him to skip the whole mad thing, using her soft Mother Hen voice to soothe him. And the best part, besides the fact that they made my whole day by being so stinkin' cute? It worked. The next thing I know, Zander is sitting there with a smile. So I snuck out of the room . . . also with a big smile.

Thanks, my sweet Charley.