Chez Moi

So  my son tried to feed his sister yesterday….

Yeah you read that right. It all happened while I tried to have a really quick shower last evening, prior to taking the horror to his Kumon classes. Typically, before I could finish, the baby woke up and screamed blue murder. Mum asked her grandson to rock the rocker to calm the baby down. When a few vigorous shakes of the rocker didn’t do the trick, my boy tried the next best thing. Sat next to the baby, lifted his t-shirt and invited his sister to have at it!

You bet am not going to let him forget it! Yeah am that evil, alright!

P: Mummy, what is nipple cream?

One of the top reasons any parent gives for going in for child #2 is for the child to have siblings and to understand and appreciate the bond. Spouse, friends, other family members are all fine but a sibling has a special place in one’s life indeed. After all, there’s no one else who shares the same background as you, who can understand where you might be coming from, considering theirs is the same.

I had longed for my son to have a sibling of his own. When he was around three, the way he used to interact with a friend’s daughter, who’s exactly a year younger than him used to fill my friend and I with this glow. Barely a foot himself, he used to guide her tricycle with a hand behind her seat and another one holding on to her handle bars. It made both of us go “awww!” and the friend to state “oh he’d make a fantastic big brother, di!” I agreed with her whole-heartedly.

P is such a sensitive, protective soul, the absolute best big brother material.

And in one week, I have seen instances of it that has made my heart sing and had my friend not in Chennai now, would make her say “I told you so” with much glee.

So we wanted to go for a walk on Sunday afternoon, to enjoy some rare end summer sun. “Let’s get her buggy out and we can all go for a walk, P - you can even ride your bicycle if you want!” suggested I. But no. “No mummy, let’s not do that, all my older friends will be playing and they might harm the baby!”, says my baby!!

The other night, he was watching telly while the baby was lying next to him staring at nothing in particular. Or so we’d thought. P looked at her and decided she was watching telly too, which was a big no no. Before any of us realised what was happening, he took off at a rapid clip, went to the crib, selected one of the brightly coloured animal toys and plonked it next to her, away from the telly, thus distracting her! Clever boy or what?

Then last night during dinner, he was sitting on the sofa and the baby was on awake, right next to him. Suddenly, there was a squeal! “Mummy look, the baby smiled at me. Look she is smiling at me!” Sure enough, she had a dopey grin on her face but her brother sported a bigger one.

Let’s hope this mutual love lasts.

“You take some good food and then you take some junk food and that is a balanced diet. A balanced diet is like a see-saw - you need to have some good and some bad to balance it. It doesn’t mean that you need to eat lots of fruits and vegetables, Mummy!”

Simple, innit?

September 15 - my due date. My son was born on the day he was due - a very small percentage of children do this, apparently. We’ll see if The Bun does it too. 

P is feeling quite upbeat now, at the thought of finally meeting the baby. This morning, as I was getting dressed, I heard a mewling from his room, followed by a squeaky voice shouting ‘let me come out, let me out!’ I rushed to his room - well waddled at a quickish pace! - under the impression that he has got himself stuck somewhere or crawled somewhere and cannot get out. Nothing of that sort - he was sat on his bed with a beatific expression on his face and went ‘WHAT?’ when I burst into his room. 

Me: ‘What was that sound?’

P: ‘What sound?’

Me: ‘I heard a sound from your room…’

P: ‘That wasn’t me - it was the baby.’

Me: ‘Eh?’

P: ‘Yeah the baby is tired of being inside your tummy and was shouting to get out!’

Oh! Ah! 

He has gone to celebrate his impending promotion to big brotherhood by dinner with his dad at KFC. Let’s see what the morrow brings. 

In the meanwhile, please keep your fingers crossed for us. I shall see you on the other side as a mum of two children!!