Not so big after all

As I have mentioned before I feel like Adam has had to grow up a lot faster than the other two kids. He's always been the oldest and we expect a lot from him. He is 'the serious one' and always wants to please everyone and do what is right.

The other night I put them to bed which is something I don't usually do. I put Anna to bed and Chip puts the boys to bed. But since it has been lighter out later, Chip is getting a start on yard work, picking stone from the field in order to plant corn, and getting everything ready to hay. It's a busy time of year. So I get Anna settled in her bed, then I get the boys settled in theirs. I am downstairs getting all the things ready for the church bake sale the next morning and I hear crying. Now usually we storm up there and yell at them because Adam is usually yelling at Van because he's talking, or getting a drink or whatever. This time Van says to me that I didn't say good night to Adam. Sometimes Chip will say good night before the prayers instead of after and Adam gets upset when any little thing gets out of order. Anyway, that wasn't the issue. Adam couldn't find his Elmo 2. Ever since he was about 18 months he fell in love with Elmo. I love this because he is my only child that has become attached to any object or character. The other two could care less. And when he goes to sleep (although he would never admit to this at being the big 6 year old) he needs to know where all three of his Elmos are. The big Elmo, baby Elmo and Elmo 2. I don't know which is which actually, except for Big Elmo of course which is obvious.

So we tear the beds apart. He is on the top bunk and sometimes one of the little Elmos will fall through a crack and end up in Van's bed. I looked in the drawers under the beds, stripped everything and couldn't find it. He finally found it wedged at the foot of this bed. Usually we get angry when we have to go up there and deal with them for an extended amount of time because it's late, they need to be in bed, and it's usually for an unwarranted reason. But this time I just felt a little pang in my heart. He's not SO big. And I'm kinda happy about that. :)