Kid 6 vs Kid 1

Today Heather and I were talking about how different we are with Sam at 2.5 versus Ethan (child 1) at the same age. Obviously, we are more laid back – over the years we have learned how resilient kids are (thank God). It really is more than that, though.
For example, today we noticed that Sam had something that looked like a raisin in his ear. Which was weird for two reasons: I can’t tell you the last time I bought raisins (actually it was at Christmas for some fancy thing I was going to make, so that we could start some kind of tradition, but the kids saw the box of raisins and started screaming and running so I threw them away) and Sam only eats chicken nuggets, pizza, chips, cinnamon toast and occasionally dog food. So we brought him into the house and held him down while I dug out the not-raisin from his ear with a bobby pin. If it had been Ethan at the same age, we certainly would have been at the ER. In fact, we probably would have called 911. No lie. Today, that just can’t happen because it violates our strict "No ER on the weekends" rule, and our kids are all well aware that if they are sick or injured between 5 pm on Friday and 8 am on Monday, we will be treating them at home. Look, I know it seems strict, but if you’ve ever been to Children’s Hospital on a Saturday afternoon you know it’s the right thing for everyone.
Another thing is toys. All of Ethan’s toys were highly educational, we had an appropriate ethnic blend, and all parts were rigorously tested in a tube exactly the same size as a toddler’s esophagus to make sure they were non-chokable. The other day Sam was playing with two decorative letters (O and V from a Valentine’s Day decoration), a box of Icy-Hot back patches, an empty prescription bottle, and a tiny Lego Star Wars figure that would have TOTALLY slid right through the esopho-tube. He was taking V and Luke Skywalker for a walk off the side of the box, "Come on wetter, wet’s go for a walk! Oh NOOOOOOO, cwaaaaashhhh!" This went on for probably 20 minutes, which was exactly how much time I needed to pluck my eyebrows and catch up on email. I’m taking those letters and Wuke Skywalker everywhere we go!