I've always wondered this: will I be the kind of parent who will secretly harbour a corner of my heart only for my Bean, my first born, the kid who currently rocks my world? Or will my heart grow, Grinch like, until it fully engulfs a second baby when, and if I have one?
I can't say for sure. I am so smitten with my small boy right now: with the way he says words now like "enormous" and "horrified" and "extremely," and calls me "Jackrabbit Mummy" and then giggles as if that is the funniest thing in the entire world.
And also, my parents played favourites. I was my dad's, and with this special placement came the aching consequence of sibling jealousy and a colder shoulder from my mum who tried, I suppose, to compensate for my dad's disproportionate love for me, by loving my two sisters more evidently than she did me. Or maybe this is the way loving multiple children works? Love takes on different forms, some more outward than others, yet all are equal?
I'm curious, do you, even for a fleeting moment, play favourites with your kids?