Little Blake, as your birthday present, you will no longer be the center of the world
Posted by Laurie![iStock_000002992027XSmall[1]_secondbirthday](http://www.expectingwords.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/iStock_000002992027XSmall1_secondbirthday-200x300.jpg "iStock_000002992027XSmall[1]_secondbirthday")
It’s a long title, but that’s the best way to say it. Yesterday we celebrated Blake’s 2nd birthday. It was fabulous. Family friends, in the backyard at our new house, pizza, BBQ, music and fun.
The best part was that Blake was lovingly surrounded by all four grandparents and his great-grandmother. What a lucky little boy!
During the party I was thinking about how next year at this time, Blake will have a sibling. I wonder how this will affect Blake’s personality. He gets so much attention right now, and he has since he was born.
One of our friends here yesterday has a seven-month old boy and she was saying how great it is that she just puts him on the floor with a ball and he’s happy playing by himself for an hour. I overheard this and ran to tell her, “Appreciate this! Do you know that not all babies do this? Blake never entertained himself with a ball for more than a few minutes.” She had no idea. ”You mean every baby doesn’t happily play with balls for hours?” she asked. ”One hundred percent, no. It’s personality that defines how much a child can play by him or herself.”
Soon my theory will be put to the test. Is it nature or nurture? When I’m caring for a newborn, what will Blake do? Learn to entertain himself or become a tantrum- crazy 2.5 year old? Perhaps there will be a few months of adjustment with more attention demands at first, and then acceptance of the new way of life.
Whatever happens, I stubbornly refuse to feel guilty about giving Blake less attention. I think it will be good for him.
So, happy birthday Blake! Next year you will no longer be the center of attention, but we will love you just as much!
Are you expecting another child? Do you worry about how your first will handle it? If you have more than one kid, how did you balance the needs of your kids? Was it harder or easier than you expected?
This entry was posted on Monday, June 28th, 2010 at 11:33 am and is filed under Balance & Fairness, Parenting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response.
Hi Laurie, great topic!
When my second child was coming my mother gave me one good piece of advice:
“Don’t drop everything every time the new baby cries.”
Letting the baby cry for a minute or two won’t hurt him or her and lets the older sibling know they are still important. I found doing this helped ease my oldest into big sisterhood and reduced any feelings of jealously. She would actually suggest we go get the baby when she would start crying, which was great.
I found having my oldest help with the new baby and referring to the baby as their little brother or sister helped tremendously. It doesn’t take much to make them feel like they are helping, handing you fresh diapers, washing the baby’s feet, bringing a non-poopy diaper to the trash. She likes being a big sister, it makes her feel important and like she was helping mommy.
She loves her little sister, except now and then when she steals her toys!