The Green Eyed Monster

Bringing a newborn sibling into the house can be a traumatic event for a six year old. Especially, if that six year old has been the baby of the family all of his life.

I had included both of my sons(Michael- age eight, and Christopher - the six year old) ahead of time by having them help in decorating the nursery. We talked about how important it was to be a big brother and have a little sister or brother to look up to them. I was confident that I had made all the preperations for a smooth arrival of the new addition to my family. I had not prepared myself for the green eyed monster that surfaced when my daughter was born.

Julie was everything a mother could ask for. She was beautiful from birth. With a full head of dark auburn hair. A remarkable contrast to her two blond brothers. Not, only did she look different; besides the fact that she was a girl, she was different from the start.
She rarely cried. Surprisingly, she even did something that they had never done. She slept straight through the night from two weeks of age! I could hardly believe it. I would hover over her crib in the middle of night to make sure she was breathing. She was alright, and sleeping like a little angel.

That was quite the relief for both myself and my hubby. We had gone through three months of colic with the firstborn and his brother wasn't much different. They both grew into fine young boys though. Michael was the quiet, slow, sensitive one and Chris was the outgoing, active, and smart one.

Chris was also outspoken and very fun loving. He began talking in sentences at a very early age. When he was little over a year old he looked over at his Dad from his highchair and said "Drink that coffee Daddy!" We couldn't believe our ears. He had us both in stitches! He was a quick learner and had potty trained himself not too long after he started walking. He continued to impress not only his father and I, but our family and friends with his verbal ability to gain attention. I can recall him, at age five, when he said to me one day out of the blue:

"Mom, I know why the lion and the lamb lay down together in Heaven."

"Oh, really...why?" I asked.

"Because they know what it feels like to hurt and they don't want to hurt eachother anymore." he replied.

It was this remarkable sense of wisdom at such an early age that won people over to him. It wasn't long before he became the center of attention not just at home, but in his classroom at school. After being so used to getting all the attention, it was a different case for him now at home, though. The baby sister was getting it all. She was being pampered and praised for her good nature and lack of fussing. Michael loved to hold her and would every chance he could get. Chris, however, kept his distance. I should have seen the warning signs, somehow I didn't. When Julie was about six weeks old her brother Chris stopped talking. Then to my astonishment he started wetting his bed at night. I began getting calls from the school. His behavior was suddenly out of hand. He was caught pushing, and fighting on the playground. When confronted he would hang his head and say nothing. This went on for a week. I had a new baby to tend to and I tried to overlook it. When I would sit Chris down to talk to him he would look me in the eye and say nothing! He simply clammed up on me.

It worried me of course, but as a young mother of two boys and a newborn I really didn't have the time to look into it any further. I had my hands full.

It all came to an end about a week later though. I was sitting at the dining room table feeding Julie. Michael was upstairs playing in his room and Chris was laying stretched out on the sofa behind me. I could not see him when he blurted out:

"I hate that baby! That baby poops her pants...and stinks, and I can't stand her!"

I turned in my chair and looked at him. He was now sitting up on the sofa with his arms wrapped over his chest and his knees up in the air with his legs crossed.

I burst out laughing. He began laughing. We laughed until tears rolled down our cheeks.

He adored his baby sister after that and never again wet his bed.



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