Love at First Sibling

I know they have the rest of their lives to fight and hate each other, but at least for the last six weeks, Teagan has loved Mason with all her little heart and soul. She was nervous at first, just because he was so small, but she loves to hold him now and won't leave him alone. She's always reading to him, or "helping" me change his diaper and picking out things for him to wear. We tried to eat dinner the other day while he was fast asleep in his bouncer and she refused to eat until he joined us, so we dragged him over next to the table and she plopped her time out chair right beside him and kept him company. So sweet. I took all of these in the first 8 days of Mason's life...I know I need to cool it on the photography but they are so cute together. At the moment. Maybe subconsciously I know it will end soon and I want to be able to remember "the good ol' days"!

He comed out your tummy!

Teagan came to meet her little brother just a few hours after he was born. He was a champion sleeper and I finally managed to catch him awake so I could feed him and Brandon came back with Teagan. I asked them to come back a litle later so they played in the foyer for 15 minutes, no questions asked. When they did come in, Teagan knew just who he was. "Baby Brother! He comed out your tummy, Mom!" She came right up and looked at him, but when we asked if she wanted to hold his hand or give him a kiss, she got upset and countered with "He's too tiny!" GG unleashed her magical Grandma powers and managed to get her giving him kisses eventually convinced her to hold him and she loved it. Although she always though he was going to cry (based on the one time he actually did) and covered her ears whenever he moved. 

 

I'd heard of friends giving the older sibling a gift from the baby and thought it might help smooth the transition for her a little. When we bought the dollhouse for her birthday, it came with twin babies and all their accoutrements - high chair, stroller, cribs, etc. I thought those would be the perfect little present for her from Mason. When we presented it to her, she wanted to give HIM the present - I hope that spirit of giving continues!

Nature vs. Nurture

While I know that she'll never be ready for the baby boy that's going to rock her world in the next few days, I think she's as prepared as she can be and she seems to be looking forward to becoming a big sister. She's never without "Baby", her aptly named baby doll. She's constantly giving her check ups, feeding her in the booster chair, setting her up with a comfortable place to sit and she won't go to bed without her.

She even got a group of her dolls and animals together for a concert the other day. She strapped them into the swing, forcing them (most likely against their will) to take in the world's squeakiest and most monotone version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Loving and caring? Or torturous? 

Lately I've been stumbling upon many a toy taking a nap in random places throughout the house.

I'm not always the kindest, gentlest mother so it comes as a pleasant surprise to see her being so sweet and caring to her dolls. She makes it look so natural and it's beautiful to see. Not so much to clean up after, but you take the good with the bad.

On Becoming a Big Sister

I posted recently about Teagan reverting and playing with all of the baby stuff that's starting to emerge around the house. Lately, however, it seems she's embraced the fact that she will soon become a big sister and (for the most part) has come to accept the fact that the baby will be a boy. Grandma sent us a box of darling baby boy clothes (thanks again, Grandma!) and Teagan was more than excited as she perused our spoils.

 

She certainly is excited about my belly and comments on it every day. (None of it is very complimentary, but she's a kid and tells it like it is.) She's very aware of the fact that I have a baby in my tummy...it doesn't seem to stop her from elbowing me multiple times a day or jumping on me, but she likes to feel him kick is always patting and rubbing my belly. After she says "Whoa, Mummy's belly big!" of course.

She's been playing more with her baby doll and taking very good care of her. She loves to strap her into the booster seat, fetches a bib and a spoon and tenderly feeds her lunch. It's all very sweet.

 

She's agreed to help me change baby's diapers, but she is concerned that "they be stinky in my nose." A legitimate concern, to be sure. We'll have to brave it together. She's been practicing on her baby doll with one of her old size 1's. I have one in the drawer with her 6's and it's almost obscene to see them next to each other. It seems nearly impossible that she fit into them at one point. Tiff told me that nothing prepares you for the first time you change your older child's diaper after your newborn's. You might as well be changing an adult.

We'll be sure to handle our actual baby with more care and minimize headstands during diaper changes.

I had a really sweet experience a few weeks ago, watching her with Baby Belle. All day, she told me that Baby Belle was crying and we would work together to try to figure out why. First, we'd try feeding her. I was in awe of how gently and tenderly she handled her.

When she was finished eating, Teagan told me she was still crying, so I showed her how to burp the baby and she did it perfectly, all the while whispering "I know, I know."

The baby was still crying after a good burp, so we decided that she must be tired and needed a nap. So Teagan found her a blanket and wrapped her up, then cuddled her and told her over and over that "it's okay, it's okay."

I wish I could have frozen this moment in time. Instead, I've done my best to record what it seemed like. My best isn't near good enough, but I hope I can remember how sweet and tender she was, doing her best to figure out what was wrong with her baby and trying to fix it. I hope she remembers when it's game time and we're dealing with our baby boy.

Reverting

I've been digging out baby things lately, as part of my nesting phase. Most of my nesting has involved tearing every room in the house apart and laying down on the couch because I don't have the energy to put things back together. On more occasions than I care to count, I've had to rescue Teagan from the exersaucer. I keep telling her that she is too big and that it's for brother, but she keeps proving me wrong. I stumbled upon her in it the other day, muttering "goo goo, ga ga!" When she saw me, she looked up and said "See, Mummy? I not too big." She's reverting.

All this talk of becoming a big sister must be putting too much pressure on her because she seems to be reliving her infancy. She gets out the playmat and paws at the hanging toys and hums along with the tinkling music. Heaven knows what will happen when her brother is actually using these things.

Time to Switch Doctors.

I think it's time to switch doctors. We were both offered check ups for our babies from a half naked ladybug with a coconut bra for a stethoscope. And I'm fairly certain she hasn't been to medical school.

"You're going to be a big sister."

The range of emotions that followed:

Okay, so I didn't take these immediately after breaking the news to her, but she certainly has gone through these and more since we dropped the bomb. From Grumpy to Happy to just plain Dopey, most days I feel like I'm living with all 7 dwarves instead of just the one.

She seems very aware of the fact that I'm carrying a baby in my tummy and it's darling. Since we told her, she insists that we be "cayful Mummy's tummy!" If you ask her where the baby is, she'll tell you it's in Mummy's belly. Ask her what's in Mummy's belly, she'll tell you it's a baby. Ask her if she wants a brother or sister and she'll want whichever you say last. She's flexible like that.
She's also on the alert for stinky diapers. Mr. Potato Head was the culprit the other day and she took great care of the situation.

She's shaping up to be a wonderful big sister and we're so excited to see it happen.