A funny thought

Not to steal the thunder from the CT grandparent's post, but I figure I'll write this post before its subject matter fades into oblivion.

At the wedding this past weekend, the bride's father gave a toast in which he drew some contrasts between his daughter and his two sons. This was done in a very lighthanded way with the basic point being that the bride was practically perfect, while the boys were, well, not. Regardless of whether this reflected wedding day bias, the basic theme of the toast got me thinking a bit and apparently did the same for Abby because we had an interesting conversation on the New Jersey Turnpike while driving home.

The topic of that conversation? Well, when you think about having two kids, everything involves a very binary comparison. Kid 1 vs. kid 2. Is Teddy as smart as Margaret? Are his verbal skills as good as hers at a similar age? Is Margaret a bigger pain than Teddy? And so on. Were I to give the same toast as the bride's father at this wedding, it would involve a direct comparison of Margaret (practically perfect?) and Teddy (not?).

A third kid, however, would break this quandary - you could always refer to kid A's achievements/intelligence/good looks/etc. without directly (and either explicitly or implicitly) besmirching kid B or kid C. But with only two kids, that's not possible.

So there we were, enjoying a gray day on the Jersey Turnpike and thinking about the potential advantages of having a third kid. It didn't last long, though, because I quickly thought about the logistics (our house is too small - we'd need to move - and a minivan is basically required for three kids - we'd need a new car) and cost (three college educations?). Still, it was a funny train of thought. And when I mentioned it to our neighbor, who has three young kids, one of whom has recently become Margaret's best bud as they've both become more social, she flashed me a big smile and said, "Go for it!"

Then again, after second thought, I don't think so.