The average man

I have spoken a few times about how Audrey adores her baby sister and always jumps at the chance to help me out with her. Whenever Olivia is in her swing or bouncy seat and she starts fussing all I have to say is “Audrey, talk to Olivia please” and she plops down in front of her and starts chatting away making Olivia forget about whatever it was she was upset about! How nice is that? And lately, if Audrey is doing something like eating breakfast or whatever and Olivia starts fussing, Audrey will say “Talk to Olibia, Bubba.” (She’s already delegating!) James usually doesn’t do it though. Not because he doesn’t like to (he does) but because he is usually focused on something else and doesn’t hear Audrey or the baby. Who does this represent? Yep. The average man.

James and Audrey have always been held true to the male and female design. And the older they get the funnier it gets to watch. Especially with the baby. Audrey constantly (and I mean constantly) tells me “Mama, Olibia is so CUTE!” Audrey always kisses her on the feet. Probably 100 times a day she does this and she can hardly contain herself sometimes. Audrey loves to sit and just talk to Olivia. She will stop playing to sit down and talk to her, unsolicited by me. She loves to pick out Olivia’s clothes for the day and will sometimes talk in a silly, high pitched voice saying “Olibia!! Don’t fuss! Why you fussin?” Wonder where she’s heard that?!

James on the other hand really could care less. I mean, he loves her and any time someone at church says “I just want to take this baby home with me” he gets protective and politely tells them they canNOT take his baby sister. And he does love to make her smile at him and hold her on occasion but most of the time he’s content to sit back and let the women take care of her. Put my 3 children in a room together with the television on or some other activity to do and let the baby start crying. Who will immediately jump up and see what’s wrong? I’ve seen it happen. And I’ve thought a few times to myself that Audrey could totally take care of them. All I need to do is teach her how to fix a bottle and we’d be set. Just kidding about that last part. Sort of.

Seriously though, the dynamic between James and Audrey sometimes is like a married couple. While we were at my daddy’s a few weeks ago he and Nelda ( through no fault of their own) brought this to light for me. Nelda wasn’t there the first 2 days we were so when she did get there and she finally got her hands on Olivia she was excited! She said to my daddy one time( in that voice that all women use when talking about sweet little babies) “Samuel, isn’t she the sweetest thing eveR?! Couldn’t you just squeeze the stuffing out of her she’s so sweet?!” My daddy’s reply was hilarious! He had this kind of sheepish look on his face (I think he was concerned about maybe offending me) and he said “Well, not really. I mean I do love her and do think she is so cute but I just don’t feel as strongly as you I guess.” Bahahaha! He sumed it up pretty good I think!

And Jon does the same, pretty much. I’ll be down on the floor at night laying with Olivia talking to her and just watching her explore all the things around her and will say “Jon, she’s just so cute! You should see her.” I usually have to say it about 5 times before he either hears me and wants to see or understands that unless he gets on the floor with us, I’m not going hush!