Where Did Austen and Peyton Go?

This is the question that I hear every day now and sometimes multiple times a day. Hailey goes to school and when she comes home she knows that Austen and Peyton are at school but when they come home from school she expects them to be here at home. Their schedules are busy so she's often asking them to play when they need to settle down and do their homework before they jet out the door to a baseball, softball or soccer practice or even religious education classes. "Where did Austen and Peyton go?" she would ask me. When I would tell her they were gone, she would respond with a pouty, "But I wanted to play with them!" I feel for her I really do - it must be terrible to wait for your brother and sister to come home all day long and then when they finally get there they either can't play or are running off to some activity. I, for one, certainly don't know what this feels like as I am not the youngest child in my family.

Just this past weekend, Austen had an evening birthday party and Peyton had her first sleepover with one of her friends. When Hailey saw Peyton packing her suitcase, she insisted that she also pack her own suitcase too. When Peyton left, Hailey broke down crying saying "I wanted to go with the girls too! I'm big!" Heart wrenching! After dropping Austen at his birthday party, we took Hailey out to get ice cream, but it probably still wasn't that satisfying for her as ice cream is always better when shared with your siblings.

Even more heart wrenching - later when Tom opened her suitcase he found she had just packed her blanket in it. That's it. Nothing else.

I guess that's the life of the youngest child. Hopefully, we make it up to her in other ways and she sees the benefits of her being the youngest as she gets older!