Baby Spam: December 2013

When you have Baby #1, everyone's inevitable first question is "How's the baby sleeping?" -- doubtless because sleep is assumed to be the main obstacle standing between you and the eventual regaining of your sanity. But when Number Two comes along, the threat of sleeplessness is overshadowed by an even more sinister family hazard: sibling dynamics. The delicate household balance you spent 21 months carefully cultivating can be immediately annihilated by a jealous toddler trying to find ways to get Number Two back to the hospital. And so naturally the question now is, "How does Owen like Eliza?"

The answer, we are so grateful to say, is that he absolutely, positively adores her.

Since the moment Owen met Eliza in the hospital when she was just three hours old, it's been a love story. While he hasn't always known exactly how to treat an infant (e.g., he frustratedly tried to force a pacifier into her nose upon first meeting), he has always adored her and doted on her completely. He often adopts a high cooing voice and tells her that she's his "Appletizer" (no clue) and that's she's "so cute and getting so big." He snapped at us singing too loudly one night ("Daddy! Don't wake up Ewiza!") and calls our attention to her needs when she's fussing ("Mommy! Ewiza needa bottle!"). Lately, he's started asking us to put Eliza in his crib in the morning, and a few days ago this request was accompanied by very explicit instructions: "Mommy, put Ewiza right there. I stay with Ewiza. You go play trains."

(Timeout: that's what you think I do for fun while you're not around?)

For her part, Eliza is just an unbelievably good sport. From the moment she arrived, she has been a curious but exceptionally easygoing girl, a disposition that has been thoroughly tested by her very hands-on older brother. He loves to lie on top of her and give her a huge hug (and a mouthful of his unruly curls), hold her cheeks and squeeze her hands, and position her legs in the yoga poses ("Happy Baby Toes!") he learns at school. All the while, she looks at him with wide eyes and a big gummy smile and has eyes for no one and nothing else. Aaron and I do all sorts of ridiculous stunts to get her to smile, but Owen only has to look in her direction to provoke a full belly laugh.

In the nearly six months Eliza has been with us, I have taken approximately 39,385 of the same photo -- some variation of Owen holding Eliza (and often, Eliza looking at me with disapproving skepticism). Since this blog is called Baby Spam and you're my captive audience, here are an unsolicited few of those many, many sibling pics.