Cousinpalooza

One awesome benefit of our Christmas trip was getting the bulk of the kids in my immediate family all together for the first time. All my three siblings have children and the only one missing was my younger sister's baby. Oh well, she's coming to visit next weekend.

Calder is pretty well acquainted with his cousins. He's the second oldest and has spent the last few years perusing their pictures on Facebook and chatting on Skype along with the occasional visit. The last time Wren saw any of them, however, she could just barely sit upright and mostly spent her time attempting to poke Logan, a few months her junior, in the eye. 

For people who never see each other, they all sure didn't act live it. Instant besties, they were. Going over to my brother's house to play with Logan (or his toys, really) was great fun and staying at Gramma's with Quentin and Caroline was like a big long sleepover party. Quentin and Calder, only five months apart, got along like gangbusters except when they didn't because, well, five year olds but any tiffs were soon mended with snacks and legos.

Quentin's younger sister, realizing that Wren wasn't going to be the princessy playmate she had hopped for quickly switched her allegiances and spent the rest of their visit dogging Calder's every foot step. If Calder was eating hotdogs and lemonade for dinner, then dammit, so was Caroline. If Calder was going to sit in a foot stool, well then, Caroline would push him around. Those two could spend hours playing pretend with each other. Caroline's brother doesn't really have the patience for it and Wren just doesn't have the mental faculties yet. If Caroline wasn't going to get a princess, by god she'd have her prince. And Calder got the one thing he's always wanted, a captivated audience.

It's a shame they all live so far away from each other; Illinois, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, to be precise. At least there are still Skype playdates to look forward too.