The other day a pile of Amazon packages were delivered to our front porch. (Prime Day, HEY!!) When I pulled the stack of cardboard boxes into our living room, the kids surrounded me, jumping in excitement to see what was inside, even though they already know that all we ever order are things like liquid soap refills and baby wipes.
As I opened the top package, Anna looked at me with big, wide eyes. “MAYBE!” she said, fists clenched with excitement, “It will be a BABY!! Like ADELINE!”
Ever since Anna’s new cousin Adeline was born, Anna has not stopped talking about babies.
Anna has been drawn to dolls and babies for a while, but now that Adeline is in her life she realizes that babies aren’t just things that other people have. Babies are a possibility. Aunt Lindsay had a baby, so why not us? One day we, too, could open our Amazon boxes to find that we are the lucky recipients of a new bundle of joy! Yippee!!
Anna loves to hold baby Adeline, and simultaneously tries to play it cool but cannot play it cool. She cannot believe the good fortune in her life that is Adeline.
Sometimes, just to see what she’ll say, we ask Anna whose baby Adeline is. “Is she Aunt Lindsay’s baby?” we ask. Anna will cut her eyes at me and in a chilling Hand that Rocks the Cradle voice answer, “No she not. She MY baby!”
Anna, the official baby of our family, would love to have a baby sibling. She talks about having a new baby, she begs, she pleads, she throws herself on the floor. She is more baby-obsessed than any of my kids were.
That is, perhaps, because by the time they were Anna’s age, they already had a baby of their own. And nothing dulls the shine of a sparkly new sibling like having one.
Babies are cute and all, but to the baby of the family, a new baby also means a quick promotion off of Mommy’s lap at meal time, off of Mommy’s hip and a quick brush-off anytime the baby needs anything. Baby siblings steal your toys, pester you at dinner, and wear your favorite sweater without asking.
What Anna really wants is a new baby AND to retain her role as the be the baby of the family.
Perhaps, what Anna really wants is exactly what she got — the sweetest ever new baby cousin.
Welcome, Adeline Hope. We love you so much.
