I got to hold this tiny treasure today. He was absolutely scrumptious. Those tiny toes. The grunts and coos. Even the present he made in his diaper while nestled in my arms left me pining for a wee one, a small taste of heaven (I’m insane, I know). Madeline was pining, too. On the way home, she couldn’t stop talking about him. “Doesn’t he make you want to have another baby? I can’t stop thinking about him. You know what I liked about holding him the most? His warm body on mine and the way he ‘sticked’ out his little tongue. He was so cute.”
My friend’s big sister wanted Madeline to come play dress up with her, but she was very reluctant to let go of that baby.
While my younger girls weren’t quite as hands-on with the newborn today, earlier they began fighting over a book I ought to be reading until big sister Rachel remembered that empathy and sharing are some of the best ways to deal with ones smaller than you. I suppose it’s never too early to start taking those small steps
Oh, sweetness! I love the look between the two in the last picture.
P.S. I've been holding a lot of tempting newborns myself lately…
Oh please share more about Rae and ME sharing or what you remember from when Madeline and Rae were that age. My girls are 3 and 13 months and the best we have is fetching something else for the little one sometimes.
Those pictures of your two little girls are priceless, Kate! Thank you for sharing.
What a sweet little guy! I saw a newborn this weekend and it amazed me to realize how big and mobile my baby is now. He's practically a toddler! Seeing pictures of your girls always makes me hope I am blessed with daughters someday too, although I'm definitely loving having a son so far!!
Kylie, I wish I could say sharing always went as seamlessly as it did when I captured the photos, but, alas, it wouldn't be true. My oldest is very, very good with little ones. When the baby wants something of hers, she morphs into a mommy and starts talking in a sing-songy voice and then either hands it over or diverts the baby's attention. She's a natural. She was the same way with Rae – WHEN Rae was a baby. However, she isn't as willing to share with Rae now that she's older. In fact, I hear a piercing screech of "I had it first" too frequently throughout the day. One mistake I'm trying not to make so much though is making the older child – whether it's Rae or Madeline – immediately hand over whatever she was playing with to the younger one. Sharing goes both ways.
Rae often gets a bit too rough with the baby when she wants something of hers. She was sweet with the book, but do you notice the mouse in the crook of her arm? Well, she wasn't so sweet when M.E. reached for that. I'm trying to teach her to be gentle with the baby and to do just what you said you do and hand something else to M.E.. Also, Rae sometimes sees something she wants in M.E.'s hands and snatches it away. We're working on letting M.E. play with it and then gently taking it from her hands when it's Rae's turn.
Something else that has helped that isn't exactly incredibly original or anything is allowing each of the girls to have one or two special objects that are theirs to hold and to have. Other siblings can see them, but they don't have to share with them. Funny thing is that when I take off the pressure to share, sharing often naturally happens!
Sorry for the long-winded response. This might make a good post one of these days. I just didn't want you to think my girls were perfect little mothers who always shared so nicely. (I wish I was a perfect mother who always shared of myself nicely, but, alas again, I'm far from it!). :-)
Blessings.
I love the sequence of pictures – they capture a sweet genorosity.
In response to the sharing between siblings, my SiL taught me the "Count to 10" technique. One child plays with the toy while the other one counts to 10, and then they switch. It works great because the game becomes counting and switching rather than playing with the toy. Also, my little kids learned to count to 10 VERY fast :)