Prince Talks-a-lot.

I have to be intentional about giving this middle child space on this blog.

It's so cliche about being a forgotten middle.

He would vehemently disagree with me, but he is certainly not forgotten.

He isn't quite as theatrical as The Princess...although, he's putting in some work to that end.

He isn't little and cuddly anymore - so he feels usurped by The Little Knight.

But the reality is, he has the capability of being pretty darn easy - if he would embrace that truth about his life and character he would recognize how much his dad and I long for "easy."

The other big truth is we spend much more one-on-one time with our Prince than we do with either of his siblings.  We have logged hours upon hours in the car, at appointments, and focused attention surrounding the process of a chronic disease diagnosis.

But still, there is something about being the middle kid.

He was the middle kid long before his brother was born.  He just experiences his world as a middle kid.  He's older than his years.  He craves attention (who doesn't).  He wants to remain private, sort of (which is another big reason he is not a frequent topic of blog posts).  He likes the idea of fair and equal...and he keeps tabs.  

I found this recently in an article I read on-line:

Middle children tend to feel that they are unseen, so they may suffer from low self-esteem. Even if they are capable of doing something, they may constantly ask for your help in order to get your attention. That old saying, "The squeaky wheel gets the grease," tends to be something that middle children live by. They tend to beat themselves up over the tiniest of failures and do not set goals for themselves. For some reason, if you look at most families one parent tends to bond with the oldest child while the other tends to form a bond with the youngest. The middle child takes notice of this and feels unloved. This leads to their feelings of inadequacy and that empty feeling that many of us often experience. Jealousy also comes into play here because they resent everything that the other children do. In extreme cases, middle children even act out with what some would call "psychotic" behavior. All of that jealousy and resentment just piles up inside of them until they just lash out in anger or violence.

I'm not going to say whether this describes my Prince or not.  He would hate this description.  But it's worth the read and the realization.

So for the record books...because we know he's keeping score...

Dear Smart, Witty, Persistent, Brave, Analytical, Detail-Oriented, Prince:

I have proof that you are not a forgotten child.

I know...you are shocked.

But it's true.  We think you are funny.  Like ReALLy funny!

And we DO like to spend time with you.

It bites that often those times are in a hospital.  But you seem to be fairly comfortable in that environment.

For your record books...we do spend a lot of time together in the car.  But you aren't always super engaged during those hours!

At the end of the day, we are your people.  We love you big.  We are proud of you.

It's fine if you don't really believe us.  We'll keep telling you.