Generation 4: Part 10. Keep It Simple Sunshine

Being the oldest child meant a lot of responsibility, but also a lot of freedom to our Grace. She was the only one who could already take care of herself, so that we focused on Henner and the twins more than on her. Like before, we felt bad about this and tried to talk to her about it. But she would just tell us that it’s okay and go off to do her homework. Apparently, she really was fine with the situation by now. At first it must have been hard for her, but she got used to it and even sad advantages in her special role in our family. It was her who was allowed to stay up the longest, it was her who got the credits for helping out in the daily chores, it was her who we were proud of because of her good grades. And there were a lot of those, as she conscientiously did her homework every day. One day there was no homework to do and she just did some reading in advance. One could think she was a workaholic of young age, but she wasn’t really. Every now and then she came home and told us how she lost a book or accidentally fell on a pen, which was now broken. I think, if she really was a workaholic, she would pay more attention to her stuff. To me it looked like she was a child enjoying school, but sometimes acting a little clumsy. Stories like the one with the ruined pen happened almost weekly and we sometimes wondered if they were really true or if she was bothered by others at school. But watching her in her daily routine at home made us let go of that thought. It was fascinating to see how toothbrushes magically disappeared, plates with food on it found themselves at the kitchen floor (the food side facing the floor, of course) or piles of clean clothes were accidentally thrown into the washing machine because there was a dirty sock on top of them. Grace really was a little clumsy, there was no doubt. 

But despite that she was still reliable and also able to get along on her own, which left us more time with the twins. Isabella and Ivy both were so demanding and needed our attention the entire time. While Isabella smiled at us every time we entered the room and made us feel like she was really friendly from the beginning, Ivy often would not even let us lift her from her bed. She was so comfortable there that she refused to get up. Unfortunately my mother was not around anymore to consult, but I had the feeling that I had been the same when I was a baby. This would mean that she was lazy and a couch potato, just like me. Also, when one of us carried her around the house so that the other one could clean her bed, there were always little bits of the pillows or little toys all over the bed. She didn’t seem to mind, though. How could she live and sleep in such a chaos, if she was not chaotic herself?

Speaking of chaotic – Grace finally found some friends in her class and often visited them at home in the afternoon. This was so great for her, but at the same time it meant that there was nobody to clean the dishes or the house. While Grace was playing with other pupils [note his shoes!!!] and enjoyed her childhood, our house was drowning in chaos. But there was no way we would deprive Grace of her fun afternoons. She had to act like a grown up most of the time, so she had really earned those. We just had to cut back our free time a little and then we would get along. 

With everything going on in the house, we completely forgot about our oldest son aging up! Henner’s toddler days were past him and we didn’t even throw him a little birthday party, because we just weren’t aware that it was time already. Four kids in the house maybe really was a little too much. So our little boy had to age up by himself, while in the middle of playing.

Isn’t he darling? I felt like he looked more like me every day and I was so proud of him. His beautiful brown eyes were about to break some little girl’s hearts, that was for sure. Hopefully he would find some friends soon!

Time was passing by so quickly – now we already had two school children in our house! This meant that there was absolutely no quiet day left, as one of them always brought some friends home. Grace had gotten over her shyness regarding the state of our house, and starting inviting friends home, too. And Henner found some pupils to play with the first day of school, he was really popular. But at the same time he cared a great deal about his homework, even more than Grace! Often kids had to wait for him in our house, while he was already doing his homework, instead of playing with his friends. Grace was happy to pitch in and met some new kids this way. Although they all were a little younger than her, she didn’t care much about that. 

The one creature in the house being neglected sometimes was Flip. Cassie and I were busy with our jobs –me now being in politics and she still stuck in the business I worked at the beginning of my career – and with our kids, and didn’t have time for long walks with our dog. But Grace still loved him like a full family member and took him out sometimes. With time passing, she started backing out of meetings with friends and cared more and more about the dog. Of course it was nice to see Flip kept busy, but at the same time we were a little worried that Grace would lose her friends if she didn’t care about them anymore. But maybe it had just been a little too much for her and she needed some alone time. Only she knew about this and as long as she was okay, we had to be fine with this, too. After all, there was so much going on in the house that we couldn’t keep track of everything!

Time with my two older kids was rare. My work hours were crazy and Cassie couldn’t cope with Isabella and Ivy on her own, so that their room was my first stop after work. Henner and Grace were both surprisingly independent, but still I didn’t want to miss their childhood! So I tried to make some time before they went to school, so that they could talk to me. My little boy already was on the honor roll, which made me so proud! He had earned it, that was for sure, as he had been doing his homework every single day and not forgetting about it once. Grace not necessarily was a workaholic, but my son sure was.

And he was also smart! One morning we found ourselves playing chess in our beautiful garden and although he told me he had never played before, he kicked my ass! I explained the basic rules to him, not mentioning some special tricks, because I considered them too difficult for him, but he could easily take them. The two only men in the house had a great time together and I decided this was something I wanted to do regularly.

Some alone time with Cassie was even rarer than time with my kids, but somehow we managed to get together every now and then for one or two hours of romance. But lately she had avoided me, which worried me a little. Was there something wrong with us? We were a happy family, with four gorgeous kids and a sweet dog, enough money and a beautiful house. What could possibly turn that around?

While I had to worry about that, Grace and Henner were bonding over chess. Henner had taught her everything he knew from me and they often played together in the afternoon. It seemed like their friends became of less importance for them, but instead their relationship was getting more and more significant. A great picture, seeing our oldest two children getting along this great and being good friends like this.

That night, when Cassie and I were talking about what had happened during the day, I told her how Grace and Henner were bonding and that I thought it was great that they got along like this. I also mentioned that I hoped for our youngest ones, Isabella and Ivy, that they also would be friends and be accepted by their older siblings. It was that moment when she turned around in bed, struck back the blanket and stood up. I thought she wanted to leave for some reasons and also got out of bed. With her back turned on me, she confessed that she was expecting again. We would have a fifth child.

Author's notes: SURPRISE!! Cassie desperately wanted a fifth child, so I finally gave in. This is why the heir vote won't be up for another few chapters, because the new baby isn't even born yet and I want you to have to chance of getting to know it first. Besides that, the twins are not even toddlers yet. I thought I had made up my mind about who is going to be heir, but recent developments made me insecure about that. So there might be an inofficial heir vote with me taking your choices into consideration, but not necessarily acting according to them. I don't know yet. :)

Chapter title is a song by a canadian musician I really like. He has been on tour through Europe a number of times and due to some of his concerts I helped out on we know each other by now. ;) His songs are really great, check them out:  http://music.dylanbell.ca/