A Taste of Independence

It's funny how the children will react differently to the same situation.

Gabriel is gone for 2 1/2 weeks at Philmont Scout Reservation in New Mexico. While he is gone he has given permission for the kids to move into his room. (Which was VERY nice of him!) He is the only one with his own room. In return the kids would take responsibility for feeding his fish. I guess the kids worked out a schedule. Katrina would have the room the first 1/2 of the time and Simon would get it the second 1/2.

The day Gabriel left Katrina moved in. She stripped the bedding, shoved all Gabriel's personal mess into one corner and made herself at home. She TOTALLY enjoyed the independence of having her own room. I can't state that strongly enough. She would lock herself in and read or sleep or listen to the radio and just enjoy being alone. She mostly remembered to feed the fish - sometimes she needed a little reminder.

Abagail, on the other hand, had a difficult time adjusting to not having a sister in her room. On the one hand she enjoyed the privacy too. On the other she wasn't too comfortable sleeping at night alone in her room. However, Katrina had recently returned from a week of YW camp, so Abagail had a trial run at being alone a few weeks earlier.

Now, when Simon took over, he also put his own bedding on and moved in. He also brought activities or favorite books into the room to make the space "his". He too loved having his own space - but mostly the idea of having it. The difference was that he still spent the majority of his time in his own room playing with Oliver. Under Simon's top bunk bed mattress is a cut-out piece of wood that can be accessed from the bottom bunk. The boys set up a big network of trains up there and have been having a ball. They really aren't ready to have Simon's mattress put back - even asking if he can just spend a few extra nights sleeping on the floor once Gabriel returns. Oliver even graciously offered to let Simon sleep on the bottom bunk with Oli on the floor just to keep the play area a bit longer.

These last few nights of Simon's "freedom" Oliver has moved into Gabriel's room too - he made a bed on the floor. Guess these two actually enjoy hanging out and would prefer to be together. That's good, since they usually don't have a choice.

Another difference is that Simon is meticulous about feeding the fish. Once the proper technique was demonstrated he had it down. He can tell me what time each night he feeds the fish and preciously how much. Simon is taking this responsibility very seriously.