For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for January 09, 2020

way to think outside the box, John

Yup, John. You’re about to raise another Mike or Liz. But it won’t be.

I seem to remember an Erma Bombeck quote about how the pictures of the 3rd child at birth are on the same roll of film as the 3rd child’s graduation pictures.

Elly thinks they look like children. I think they look like silhouettes.

With age comes experience, sometimes?

So true, John!

John, that was perfect!

They didn’t look like children in Tuesday’s strip

Ellie looks shocked: why? John’s right—they DO know what they’re in for.

I read somewhere once that the biggest shock in a parent’s life is when their first child is born and they don’t know what to expect.The second biggest shock is when their second child is born and they think they know what to expect.

Same thing happened to us. I was 47 when we had our last child. My wife was 33. I don’t think we went to any classes at this point.

Being a veteran has it’s advantages. Knowing what lies ahead is NOT one of them.

How did John suddenly become half-bald in the last frame?

John and Elly’s two kids: Goofus and Doofus. And now they are having another one?

We were the oldest AND it was our first.

This third child will have a lot of advantages-already trained parents, being so much younger than the other two an only child, benefits of older sibs, they can teach you everything(lol) and the parents will find out how precious this baby is to them. Everybody wins, except maybe Lizzie and Michael. Well they may get a taste of baby care for when they get their own fam. Lots of good potential here……

And Elly gets slapped with the sudden realization of reality. Just like some mothers get violently kicked off their pink cloud.

John – you are such a killjoy!