Young Love

I think Bentley may have found his first love. She's a little older than him, but lots of guys like older women - right? Cousin Rachel is visiting from Utah right now and Bentley has a bit of an obsession with her. He remembers her from a short visit a couple months ago, and it has taken Rachel no time at all to become his very favorite person - I think it helps that she's staying at our home!

When she goes out with friends he mopes and cries, and demands to know when she'll be back. The other night he didn't want to go to bed (mind you it was already 1 in the morning) until Rachel came home. He told me he was going to wait on the stairs for her. I told him he might fall asleep and fall down the stairs. His solution? He would wait right at the top of the stairs in the hall where he could still see the entry way. Luckily we convinced him to sit on the end of his grandparents bed and listen quietly for her. Poor kid fell asleep before she came back though!

When we all leave the house he checks that Rachel will be coming back with us. He follows her around. What Rachel eats he's sometimes willing to try. He'll tell her "lets go sit on the chair together". Rachel lays down on the couch? Bentley jumps up beside her and snuggles up. Rachel walks to another room? She has a tail! Time for Bentley to go to bed? He tells Rachel "you go to bed now too".

He has a sleeping bag set up next to her bed downstairs although so far he's willing to give her a little space at night. He's mature enough to understand, already, that a little distance can help a relationship grow.

It's probably just as well Rachel is heading back to Utah in a couple days as pursuing relationships with cousins, even if they are 1st cousins once removed, is just not normally a good thing. I read online that 1 in 1000 marriages in the U.S. are cousins to cousins, and both Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin married their 1st cousins. So there's your trivia for the day!

Rachel, we'll miss you. Bentley will probably demand some phone calls and video conferencing to continue his relationship long distance. :-) Maybe I can convince him to learn to write so he can send letters - harness his passion for a good use? We'll see!