Siblings!

[eilonwy]

How are your older kids taking the new baby's arrival on the scene? Mine are doing remarkably well-- BeanBean, BooBah, and Bella all seem quite taken with Bear. Bella loves to help give him his "mukmuk," and BeanBean was absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to "bubble" his little brother. All three of them spend a lot of time talking to him, and they're so sweet. It's one thing that's going right. We were kind of concerned about Bella's reaction to Bear, as she's been very jealous of babies (and even her older siblings!) in the past, but she adores Bear and has been very sweet and gentle with him.

Bear, for his part, is fascinated by his siblings and spends a lot of itme just watching them. He actually smiled at Bella today; She has no idea how special that is, but the two of them just grinned at one another for a while. It was so adorable that I kicked myself for not grabbing the camera.

Anyway, while things are chaotic, at least Bear seems to fit right in to the family.

[AlwaysByMySide]

Taylor is 2 1/2, and completely enamored by "her" new baby. She walks up to him, holds his hand, and then will look at me and say, "He's so cute." (I think she said, "He's so cute" 100 times when we were in the hospital!) When he cries, she'll walk up and say, "The baby is crying!" and then hang out while we alleviate the crying.

It is SO much fun to watch.

[nolonger]

I used to think that 18yodd had very little, if any, maternal instinct. Boy, was I wrong! She is fascinated by Terran and yet completely respectful of his needs and his dignity as a young human being, not a pet, doll, or form of entertainment for adults. She held him once, when he wanted her to not because she wanted to hold him. She loves to visit with him and talk to him when she comes home from work IF he is in the mood.

It's not going so great with ds1, who seems big, loud, rough, germy and dangerous. Hopefully things will improve in time, since he has no experience with newborns whatsoever but is the one you'd want to babysit your toddler or preschooler and has this sort of pied piper quality about him.

Just please, keep him away from my baby or at least make him wash his hands when he comes in from public school!

[flapjack]

Badly. Skye literally spent most of yesterday sobbing and screaming. River won't get off me, which means she can't get on me (or as on me as she wants, anyhow), and the whole separation anxiety thing is kicking in big time again.
The older two are loving him and getting cuddles, especially Isaac- who like NOS's son, has a knack with younger ones. Skye's jealous of that, too