Hospital

Shortly after my son, Gabriel, was born, my daughter, Ariel, who is 2 and a half years older, struggled with the attention her new baby brother was getting.

One day, she climbed into bed with me, played around a little bit, and then very seriously said, “Mommy, we need to bring Gabriel back to the hospital.”

I was speechless. I didn’t think she even remembered bringing him home.

After a little bit she tried to convince me, “we’ve played with him for a long time.”

I then explained to her,”we don’t want to give Gabriel to the hospital. I like him.”

She wrinkled up her nose a bit and said, “I don’t want him anymore, Mommy.” That seemed to settle it for her.

So I explained that we also took her home from the hospital and did she think we should take her back too?

Very defensively, “I’m a beautiful girl, Mommy.”

I assured her that yes, she was very beautiful and it would make me very sad if I ever had to bring my Ariel or Gabriel back to the hospital. I told her I would be crying and saying, “Titus, I want Ariel and Gabriel.”

And she jumped right in and said, “yeah… cause I can feed myself and dress myself.”

That settled it. Nobody would be making a trip back to the hospital.