Sophie's Choice

Sophie's Choice is a brilliantly sad book about a mother forced to choose between her two children. I found myself in that position this evening, although to a far lesser extent than sending one of my children to a concentration camp. Here's my version of the age-old dilemma, "Which child do you like better?" . Picture, if you will, Me, a 6-year old on a stroller, a 4-year old on a bike, and an almost 3-year old pushing her doll happily in a little plastic stroller out for an after supper stroll around the neighbourhood. The picturesque family scene. Until my 4-year old decided, "I want to go that way!" We never go that way. And the reason we never go "that way", is because it's uphill. I don't like uphills. But, he really wanted to, so I said, "alright, what the heck." Now, it wasn't a really steep hill and we made it to the top without either of the boys having to dismount and push their respective vehicles. At the top, I stopped to give the boys instructions about our descent. I told Alex to go very slowly, and told Connor to let me hang on to him as we walked/rode back down. Remember, this is NOT a steep hill, just steeper that my new biker and scooter-er are accustomed to. As I am facing Connor, helping him get turned in the right direction, Alex took off down the hill as fast as he could. Crap! And then he was down. Lying on his back on the cement. So, what do I do, I take off down the hill telling Connor and Kirstin to "wait here". As I am comforting Alex and checking for blood --- yup, you guessed it, Connor is flying past us on his bike, Kirstin running behind with the stroller, both giggling madly. "Pedal backwards!!!" I shriek. "Connor, pedal backwards!" "PEDAL BACKWARDS!!!" Sophie's Choice. In an instant, I decide to abandon my role as comforter, and leave my sobbing 6-year old lying on his back in the dirt and I take off running down the hill. I almost caught him, too. Almost. What a sight we must have been to the neighbours on that cul-de-sac. One kid lying on his back halfway up the hill. One on his face, near the bottom. A mom shrieking loudly as she runs less than gracefully downhill. And a little girl still happily pushing her stroller down the middle of the road. So, I guess my choice is to pick the one that looks like he's going to hit the ground harder. The one that lands facedown instead of face up. I guess that must be the one I love more? My kids are going to be so screwed up as adults! :) Anyway, I can blog this because it's actually pretty funny in hindsight. Sort of an "I told you so" moment for me! I've nursed their wounds. Superficial scrapes and a potentially good bump on the forehead. That's all. Next time, we'll stick to flat ground, thank you very much. Or I'll take the kids out one at a time. Or we'll stay home and watch t.v. Happy Spring, here's to years of scraped knees and road rash!