Big sister now.

[rivka]

Me: Alex, my computer friends want to know how you like being a big sister.
Alex: I really, really do!
Me: What's the best part of being the big sister?
Alex: When I get to wipe his butt and flush his diapers.



Several people have asked how Alex is adjusting to big sisterhood. The first day or two were rough, as she tried to cope with all the changes to her normal routine. Now she's doing beautifully.

She is very affectionate with Colin. "I want to stroke Colin goodnight," she says, running her fingers gently along his cheek or hair. "Good night, my dear little brother." She likes to give him things: a Valentine she made for him at school, a picture she drew, a construction-paper puppet. She checks on his whereabouts, comments with concern when he cries. "It's okay, Colin. Big sister's here."

She likes to include him. "Let's play Bartholomew and the Oobleck. You and me and Colin can be magicians, and Dad can be the king and Bartholomew." "You can be Papa Bear and I can be Mama Bear and Colin can be Baby Bear and Dad can be Goldilocks." She recognizes that Colin can't actually take a role, but she likes assigning him one anyway.

She likes to help. Diaper changes are her favorite - she likes to look on with horror at the messy ones, set up the clean diaper and wipes, get the alcohol pad ready for his cord care, drop the dirty diapers into the Diaper Champ. She wants to check his diaper all the time, and doesn't really understand why I won't let her do it while he's sleeping.

Last night I let her give him a bath - I held him, and she wielded the soap and washcloth. She did really well. I am less willing to let her help him nurse, although she frequently offers. (She wants to hold my breast for me. I am encouraging her to instead remind him to have a "big mouth" for latch-on.)

The only friction comes, understandably, from things I can't do when she wants me to do them. The biggest one is holding her on my lap to play a computer game with her, but of course there are a dozen times a day when she would like me to get her something or go somewhere and I am busy feeding the baby. With practice I am getting better at, for example, feeding him on the floor of the playroom while I take part in some sort of game. Fortunately I can usually pretend along with her while I'm in the rocking chair.

Incidentally, here's the picture I asked to keep, and was denied because it's for Colin. Can you tell what it is?



It's a lighthouse. That's the beacon on top, and the zigzag lines are all the stairs. Pretty cool, huh?

Comments

[kate_nepveu]

She wants to check his diaper all the time, and doesn't really understand why I won't let her do it while he's sleeping.

Well, some time she'll do it when you're not looking, he'll wake up screaming, and then she'll know.

Glad to hear things are going so well!

[eeyorerin]

I am glad Alex is settling into and enjoying big sisterhood. I thought of her when I was buying anniversary cards yesterday and they had "Congratulations, Big Sister" ones in the baby section.

[lizzibabe.livejournal.com]

I laughed over the delight she showed in flushing his dirty diapers and thought "Well, there'll come a time when she'll get tired of *that*!"

[aitchellsee.livejournal.com]

This makes me jealous - my baby brother came along when I was only two and a half, thus too young to be quite so helpful. (Also, I suppose childcare theory might have been a bit different 54 years ago?</small)

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

That's just lovely and awesome! I love her answer for what the best part is! *laughs*

N.

[tiger-spot.livejournal.com]

Huh. I would have guessed a perspective view of a crib or bassinet, with Colin's fuzzy little head sticking up over the near edge.

What is the polite way of asking a small child what that thing they've just drawn is?

[nelc.livejournal.com]

With a small child, you might be able to get away with just asking what it is. In my limited experience, they're perfectly happy to tell you all about it.

(I thought it was a parrot and a refrigerator. :( )

[chargirlgenius.livejournal.com]

Is that lighthouse three dimensional? Wow!

[platypus]

My initial guess of 'the sun in a box' was not that far off :).

[ailbhe]

That is so cute. I love the picture. And the best part :) Linnea was never the sort of big sister who could be trusted near a dirty butt. (What's the alcohol swab for?)

[ailbhe]

"Oh, that's lovely! I like all the colours. What's this yellow bit?" etc. Educated guesses are ok if you get the tone right, too - "If that's the beacon, are these zig-zag lines stairs?"

For some of L's pictures, I wrote down her narrative of them and pasted it up near the picture on the wall.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

We swab the umbilical cord a few times a day with alcohol to encourage it to dry up and fall off. Do you guys skip that?

[rivka.livejournal.com]

What is the polite way of asking a small child what that thing they've just drawn is?

"Oh, cool, tell me about your picture."

[ailbhe]

We are advised against it as drying it up slows the healing-and-falling-off practice and might irritate the skin if the baby has sensitive skin, though if it gets infected some sort of cream might be applied. I thought he might have an infection. Of course, I have no supporting data for what I was told - and other than "before 9 days old" I don't know when my babies' umbilical stumps fell off.

We-in-this-house also don't wash babies with soap once the meconium is off, unless something very dirty happens to them, but that's a can't-be-arsed thing. Laziness is a key parenting philosophy for me.

[ailbhe]

Oh, we're also told not to powder the stump, which is presumably something people do or used to do somewhere.

[ratphooey.livejournal.com]

One of the best things about parenting two children is getting to watch them interact with and appreciate each other.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

But have you made oobleck?