Big Brother

On October 19th, Joshua's world changed. He became a big brother. We tried to psych him up about being a big brother prior to the arrival of Samantha. Since he was a little under 2, it was more difficult since he didn't really understand. We read "baby on the way" books, "I'm a big brother books". We told Joshua about the baby in mommy's belly, and we introduced Joshua to his sister's room. Joshua liked going into Samantha's bedroom. He would always walk in there so excited and say "sister's room, sister's room". Yet, I don't think he really knew what sister's room meant. Soon he would find out. (One day, he went in there and peed on the floor. Maybe that was his unconscious way of acting out).

Knowing that Joshua's world was going to turn upside upon Samantha's arrival, we wanted to make Joshua feel special about becoming a big brother. Joshua was used to getting all of the attention. Now, Samantha is going to need more attention and Joshua is going to have to share his time. We created a "Big Brother Day" the day I got home from the hospital. (Unfortunately due to the threat of Swine Flu, the hospital changed their visitor policy. Therefore, Joshua was unable to come visit me in the hospital.) Not seeing Joshua while I was in the hospital was hard, but it was better that I didn't have a c-section so that I came home 2 days earlier.

Josh got introduced to candles around his second birthday a month earlier. So, now he really likes candles and blowing them out. When we got home from the hospital we said, "Happy Big Brother Day". We gave him a gift, a cake, and he got to blow out the candles. It was really cute. I don't know if Joshua really understood what was going on, but it was nice for him to get some attention and feel special during a transitional time.