What happens when a big brother meets new baby sister? Today's Monday Consult is an in-the-trenches report from guest blogger Oren Miller -- also known as A Blogger and a Father -- whose new baby girl arrived just about a week ago:
On Thursday morning, we drove to St. Joseph Hospital. My wife had to get a bunch of shots and transfusions and then lie down and wait for doctors to open up her belly. I had to make sure the battery for the camera was full. I brought the charger just in case. Always the extra mile with me, you know?
Once the surgery was over and everything was fine, we were ready to face the difficult issue of our two-year-old son. Being a stay-at-home dad, I felt my boy has gotten used to having a doting, loving, quick-to-respond, I-was-his-and-he-was-mine father. And everything has been going so well. And everything was going to change.
A couple of hours later, the boy was brought over to visit his sister. Remember all those times we pointed at Mommy's belly and said, "Baby sister?" or "Baby Madeline?" Well, here she was! She wasn't in Mommy's belly anymore! She was here, ready for you to kiss her and love her and--
One look at his sister sleeping in the bassinet, and the boy ran for the door, screaming, "Granny's house! Granny's house!"
We've ruined everything... Our boy hated his sister. He hated his mother. And he hated his father. He's been betrayed. We've failed him. What were we thinking?!...But we still had the REAL test. After all, he must have been tired. And he was shocked by the whole experience, probably. And let's face it, Granny's house WAS fun. No, the real test was going to be our boy's reaction to seeing his baby sister at home.
The day came.
He climbed the stairs, each step making it harder for us to hide our anxiety. He was getting close. He was there.
And there she was, swaddled and asleep. Boring. What was going to happen? Was he going to run back downstairs to Granny? Was he going to ignore his sister, run to the TV, and scream "Wonder Pets"? Was he going to try to hit the intruder? Were we going to see his disappointment, his anger, his mistrust? Were we about to witness our own failure?
Or was it all going to be okay after all?
(Photos courtesy of Oren Miller)