Babies

Yesterday RJ rolled over from his tummy to his back, twice: once for me, once for Ephiny. He's been rolling up a storm since. Tummy time is oooover now! He's really interested in going the other way around, now, and can make it aaaalmost all the way but he still ends up with his arm trapped in front of him.

Jolly tied a red ribbon around the wooden rhino, then declared, "This rhinoceros has a ribbon around it to keep it from being mixed up with the other babies."* That's good, kiddo. I'd hate to be spending lots of time breastfeeding the rhino instead of RJ, and wondering why my let down wasn't happening as efficiently as usual.

(*This is in fact a quote, as you'd imagine. We have been reading "The New Baby" in the Usborne First Experiences series again and again - I highly recommend it for others with toddler age children who might be expecting again, because it's by far the most straightforward, clear-cut description of what happens when there's a new baby that I've found, with a very cheerful, positive tone where everyone (big brother, big sister, parents, grandparents) is excited about the baby. A LOT of the literature for toddlers preparing them for a new baby is SO bogged down in anxieties and feelings and the BAD THINGS THAT WILL HAPPEN, and while I understand that those books have a very good place for families whose toddler is having anxieties and feelings of resentment, I don't think it's a good idea to project that onto a blank slate from the beginning.)

In fact, as I wrote this, I had to interrupt for another reading of "The New Baby". It even features a breastfeeding mother. The only complaint I've had about it is that it's "very traditional" in that the parents are called Mrs/Mr Bunn - which we don't have a problem with given that we read lots of books about opposite sex parents and we encourage Jolly to call other parents by Mr/Ms anyway.

The other day, Jolly announced that RJ was getting bigger -- I think a reflection of the fact that RJ was bathing in the sink and splashing, and Jolly was gently splashing, which happens in our OTHER favorite book about big brotherhood, the British I'm A Big Brother. I agreed, "Yes, RJ is getting bigger." Jolly added, "He's going to be a big brother soon!" "Well, he's getting bigger, but, he's always going to be your little brother, because you are getting bigger too." (This is the part where I envisioned eventually running into problems with big/little terminology because of its implied size difference, because while Jolly will always be the OLDER brother, he may not always be the bigger brother, as RJ is very close to the 20 lbs mark and is thus very likely going to at some point catch up to his older brother, size-wise.)

After some back and forth, I got out of Jolly that he meant that if RJ was getting bigger, it was clearly time to have another baby (duh, mummy!). Oh, Jolly, I couldn't agree more! I concurred that yes, we WOULD definitely be having either a little brother or a little sister for him and RJ, but that it would take a while before we would start growing another baby in mama's tummy because we wanted RJ to get a bit bigger first so he can be a helpful bigger brother like Jolly already is.

Jolly emphatically insisted "It should be a little sister this time, I think." I told him it could be a little brother OR a little sister next, and that he didn't get to choose. Mr Bossy just repeated himself, so I don't think that really got through. We'll burn that bridge when we come to it: as it won't be for a while, we'll have loads of time to prep him for any disappointment!

He's clearly very pleased with the idea of moooore babies, as he's mentioned the idea repeatedly since, continuing to be very adamant about the little sister part especially. (I think that "The New Baby" has two older siblings and a new little sister doesn't hurt, there.)

In other news, Jolly's garbage truck is now moonlighting as a tow truck who takes cars to the hospital, and the driver is "also a doctor!" How very versatile.