Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Green Eyed Monster?

 


Some folks were asking today about how Addie's doing with Nolie--whether she's jealous or whatever.  My first response was to say that I haven't seen much jealousy.   For the most part, Addie has sort of ignored Nolie, though she does ask where "Magnolia Jade" is when Nolie's napping or in another room.  I think this is probably because Addie likes to say the big words.  So far, though, it has seemed to me that Nolie hasn't cramped Addie's style too much.  Nolie is still pretty much in the inactive baby stage; her crying can get annoying, but there's not much else she can do to molest the world around her (unless it's Puesday--then, watch out!).  Addie seems to be handling the whole thing beautifully, on the whole.


Except, I'm probably wrong, now that I think about it.  I mean, there was the whole potty training-regression thing that happened in full force after Nolie came, and an entire month in which Addie wanted to be carried absolutely everywhere, even when my arms were visibly full of groceries, or Nolie.  Especially when my arms were full of Nolie.


And then, there was this conversation, which happened in the car yesterday, after I got off the cell phone with my Mom:


A:  Nana Debbie is your mommy, Mommy!


M:  That's right, Addie!  She is.  And who is your mommy?


A:  YOU are!


M:  That's right!  And who is Nolie's mommy?


A (brow furrowed):  Nolie doesn't have a mommy!


M (brow furrowed):  Uh, yes she does.  I'm her mommy.


A (crying):  No you're not!  You're MY mommy!


Cue weepy tantrum.


There's that.  Which makes me wonder about how much Addie understands about Nolie.  Does she know she's here to stay?  That soon she'll be crawling and talking and mouthing all of Addie's toys?  Probably not. 


Still, mostly Addie is pretty gentle with Nolie.  For example: 


Addie's Nana Debbie sent her a doctor kit that I used to play with when I was a kid:  it's awesome.  It has a stethoscope and a blood pressure cuff and a reflex hammer and a pretend syringe and medicine bottle.  And a special nurse's apron with a red cross on the front.  Anyway, we've been playing doctor a lot with Addie's dollies Betty and Holly Emily; in particular, Addie seems to like the part where I (the doctor) take Betty's or Holly Emily's blood pressure, and Addie (the nurse) holds the dolly's hand and says "It's okay, Holly Emily.  This won't hurt." 


When we were at the real doctor's yesterday and Nolie was getting her blood pressure taken (those tiny sphygmomanometers are pretty cute), Addie took Nolie's hand and told her it would be okay, that it wouldn't hurt.  Okay, so I know that she was just play-acting what we had done with the dollies, that she was basically reading from the script, but it was so gentle and sweet that I teared up a little.  Good thing my doctor thinks I'm nuts anyway. 


I shouldn't ruin the picture you have of Addie right now by telling you that I've also caught her trying to twist Nolie's feet off at the ankles, but we are all for full disclosure here at toddlerspit, so there you go.  Would I leave the two of them in a room together alone for very long?  No.  Is Addie going to smother her sister in her sleep?  Probably not.  Good enough for me.



2 comments:

  1. Yeah, y'know, Gwen's mostly on good terms with her little brother, but we see the monster peek through once in a while too. But (as we observed on thanksgiving+ weekend) the kids will sometimes score parental approval with kindness toward others. And we'll take it wherever we can get it. Since the visit, we obtained a Bumbo chair for Raiff, and when Gwen's not sitting in it herself, she's instructing me to put Raiff in there. (It's still pretty cute.)

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  2. Oh, and speaking of the "MY mommy" thing: when we were out there, I was hanging out with Gwen and Addie. Gwen said something about "cousin Addie" and Addie said, "I not a cousin."

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