While I was post-less since (aaacckk!) halloween (click here for my confession), I took to Facebook to post short updates.
Two FB friends recently mentioned to me that it seemed Noah was my favorite. And I realized then that herein lies the downside of my kids' 7-year gap...
True, the volume of posts (anecdotes & photos) of Noah on my FB page is bigger than that of Isabella's. Partly because a 7-year-old naturally has so much more moments of say, calling fertilizer "karabaw's poop" in a test, than a 15-year-old would. But also because Noah is too young to care if I embarrass him; and Isabella, at 15, I assume would be. So I censor my updates on Isabella and when I do publish a post about her, I refrain from tagging her. I am so afraid I will embarrass her that I ask permission to post a photo of her on FB.
In fact, I recently watched Isabella compete in her first track & field meet. Had it been a school program of Noah, I would have sat with him while waiting for his turn to perform, taken gazillions of photos of him (& his friends) at every opportunity. But at Isabella's track meet, I resisted the urge to hover. I sat at a distance from her. I still took a lot of photos (that I will NOT upload on FB without her approval), but I did so from a distance, putting my cam's zooming ability to the test. It didn't help that I was the only parent there watching. I kept wondering if she'd rather I just left. So I tried to act nonchalant and tried hard not to cheer so loudly during her events.
Yes, this is the problem with my kids' 7-year gap. It can be misinterpreted as favoring one over the other. When the truth is, I love both of them equally. I just need to show that love in an age-appropriate way. And because their age-gap is so huge, my posts about them will inevitably be remarkably different. After all, they are worlds apart. One of them is kissing only Mommy these days while the other could already be kissing boys...
... (though I seriously hope not. Yet.). I can broadcast anything & everything about Noah - in big, bold letters & an exclamation point. But Isabella's stories need to remain thought balloons & my reaction to them, in parentheses.
Click here for a previous post about my kids' 7-year gap & a feeble attempt at poetry.
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