Quinlan is silly. He has a silly heart, a beautiful, quarky spirit, and is-in general-“spirited.” He “lives life with gusto,” as his daycare provider calls it. As you can imagine, his silliness confuses me. It’s not the silliness of the toddler that confuses me, it’s the evident and deeply ingrained silliness of his soul. He is empathetic, which is difficult for a toddler. However, if he were in an adult body, he would be certifiably insane.

I don’t remember being silly when I was a child. I had a fantastic and deep imagination (including a long-standing imaginary friend, named Katie) and I could play by myself for hours- I still could. But, I don’t ever remember embodying silliness. Paige is like this- I get her.

Aiden has a third personality altogether that is tough for me as well. He plays, relatively quietly, has bursts of silliness (especially around dawn), but is devastatingly sensitive. Mid- laugh he could fall on his butt and cry for 5 minutes. The same fall would have Quinlan rolling on the ground laughing, and Paige would sigh, purse her lips and get up and on her way.

I’m grateful that my children have very distinct personalities. They are all very loving, and while in their silliness they act the same, but they are VERY different.

The fact that I “get” Paige terrifies me to my core, and delights my mom because, well……she will one day be a teenager- and that’s frightening if she is anything like I was. 🙂

So, when people look at Quinn in the midst of his silly explosions and cock their head to the side like a puppy watching a butterfly, I want to nod and say, “I know. I don’t get it either….” But, I’m his mom, so I don’t think I’m supposed to do that. Instead I smile and nod, shrug my shoulders and say, “that’s Quinn.”