Sisters

I often wonder if all of Olivia's happenings have damaged the kids. I worry most about Brooklyn. She was just over 2 when Olivia was born and Olivia has spent approximately 178 of her 592 days of life in the Children's Hospital of Illinois. Brooklyn definitely loves her little sister. A lot more than we would like sometimes.

So the reason I question her well-being through all of this is because of her response when we have gotten the mail over the last few days. We get mail from the hospital quite often. When she got the mail today, she knew exactly who this envelope was from: Her response: Look, we got mail from Olivia's hospital! Now I know she can't read, yet. Most children do recognize signs and symbols and can technically "read" them according to Jack's kindergarten teacher. Most kids, however, know McDonalds, Burger King, Subway, HyVee, WalMart and so on.

Yesterday, Olivia got a package from her Life Flight crew. She received her 2nd postcard wishing her well and another Life Flight T-shirt that may fit her when she's 6 or so. Anyway, Brooklyn opened it and instantly knew it was from "Olivia's helicopter."

Granted, Brooklyn had seen the shirt once before, and she did get "exchanged" between people at the hospital every once in a while, but does it really constitute these being her first "reading" experiences - "Life Flight" and "Children's Hospital of Illinois"?

Anyway, I'm sure she'll be fine in the end. Who knows, maybe she'll end up going into the medical field someday and be able to support the rest of us. For the most part, she's a happy child. I suppose that's all that matters. I do worry about the fact that she has such horrible mood swings at the age of 3. We need to start searching for some long lost relative that thinks she's super cute, so we can send her there during her teen years. Then again, maybe she's just getting it all out now.

It never hurts to think positive, right?