With all of the updates going up on Alexander’s web site, it’s pretty easy to forget about his big brother Nicholas, particularly with Alexander making a U-turn right back into hospital on the fourth of February. Complicating this is the realization that one has to be a Daddy first and a bard second so that were it not for help from others to help take some of the burden, the sites probably wouldn’t be updated at all for quite a while. Where time permits, stories and pictures will come (have no fear, even if I can’t write them straightaway, I do tend to keep notes for those times that I can do a bit of composing at the keyboard).
Of course, when you bring a new child into the world when you’ve already got one, you’ve got to expect that a bit of jealousy is going to rear it’s ugly head from time to time. You’ve got to expect that when you’re dealing with someone who for almost twenty-one months was essentially the center of our universe with all of the attendant attention that brings from all quarters.
Unfortunately for him, sole possession of the attention is gone forever.
But all-in-all, he’s actually done quite well for someone who doesn’t really understand about all of the attention being shown Alexander who he’s seen very little over since he was born due to restrictions in the intensive care units (ICU). He got about a week of seeing him when he was home and part of a day over this past weekend and that’s about it for these first sixteen days. And in spite of that, he’s done really well with only a bit of the jealousy showing on one of those days.
Honestly, I’m quite impressed that he’s doing so well and that gives me faith that he’s going to be an awesome big brother with a bit of training. I don’t know that he’s completely connected the dots on the yes, we’re actually keeping him thing but I’m sure he’ll figure it out once we get past these hospitalizations. And unfortunately, one of the less thrilling jobs of being a big brother is having to grow up in certain ways just a little bit sooner. I ought to know just how much the job stinks on ice sometimes and hopefully that will guide me a bit when it’s time to show Nicholas how to be a good big brother. 🙂
But it’s very easy to forget the big brother when there is a little one that is particularly needy as Alexander is right now. So yesterday, we decided to let Nicholas run off a lot of his excess energy at the park. He ran all over the place, climbed all over the play equipment (no way we’re going much longer without a jungle gym out back, I can guarantee that!), and generally had a great time. Today, Nicholas and I went back to the park and did pretty much the same thing with the added bonus of one of Daddy’s soccer balls from when he played indoor soccer (well, was shelled in net as the goalie for most of it but it was still fun playing the beautiful game). A kick here, a kick there, an occasional slide or three.
But mostly it was just time to let Nicholas have some attention for himself (and to run off excess energy!).
Big brothers need that from time to time. 🙂
