"Mommy! We Forgot My Sister!"

We were on the ferry, heading home from a visit to grandma's house. We were enjoying relative calm until Noah stood straight up and declared,"MOMMY! We forgot my sister!"

An old lady two rows over looked at me in mild panic. Nearby, a concerned mother - juggling her own three pre-schoolers, shot me a "I totally understand" look.

The funny thing is, Noah doesn't have a sister.

"What do you mean, Noah?"

"We forgot Allie!" he cried. Real tears. Or maybe crocodile ones, I'm not sure.

"Allie" (not her real name) is my foster sister.... Noah's aunt, in a way, except that he's two years older than her.

"Oh, sweet. Allie lives with Grammy and Opa."

"But Mommy - I want her to be MINE SISTER!" he crossed his arms over his chest, raised his chin, and gave me his best "I'm a teenager trapped in a three-year-old's body" look.

Great. Last month he was lamenting the cruel reality that he could not live with his brother. This month I had to break his heart again and explain that Allie couldn't live with us.

"Well, Noah, Allie is a very special girl. But she lives with Grammy and Opa. She needs to stay there right now, that's her home."

"But Mommy, she's MINE SISTER!" he insisted. "We both have yellow jammies!" -- he had a point. They both got bright yellow footed pajamas for Christmas. Perhaps that's all it took to solidify their sibling bond - at least in the mind of my three year old.

Maybe one day he'll have a sister or brother, or maybe some of each. And I'll get them all matching jammies to celebrate home coming day. I just hope - while Noah waits - he can stop accusing me of child abandonment on the ferry.