Sister Love and New Milestones

Pebbles Flintstone and her baby sister.

Charlotte is VERY expressive in how much she adores Lorelei. And I just love the look on Lorelei's face.

Sisters!

Lorelei's toys are Charlotte's toys, apparently. And I'm so glad I bothered ironing her church dress. Sigh.

I'm delighted--DELIGHTED--to be writing a blog post that is not about fevers, puke, missed work, sleeplessness, or business trips.

Oh, wait. Sleep deprivation WILL come up. Stay tuned.

Lorelei has been growing and growing, and even Charlotte commented, "Mommy, Lorelei is .  . . BIG." She is. And as she grows, she's becoming even more expressive and interactive and giggly and super excited about pretty much anything you present her with. I just adore Lorelei--she has the sweetest, pluckiest disposition.

Now, since Day 1 of Lorelei's life, Charlotte has been fascinated by her little sister. I kept waiting for jealousy or her tiring of her, but more than 6 months later, Charlotte still greets Lorelei in the morning with a giddy "LORELEI!" and hugs and kisses. Every night, she insistently tells Daddy, "I need to say good-night to Lorelei," and she marches into the nursery, climbs onto the rocking chair with Lorelei and me, awkwardly hugs her sister (it's a little crowded in that chair), and then sweetly kisses Lorelei's forehead.

The sibling thing has been so fun for us. Charlotte wants to play with Lorelei SO BADLY, and she has whole conversations with her. "Lorelei, I got a boo-boo today. I was playing outside and I fell and I hurt myself, but I got a band-aid. See? See my band-aid, Lorelei? It hurt, but it doesn't hurt any more. I cried and I was sad, and I'm going to get another band-aid tonight and . . . " You get the idea.

Charlotte is also bossy, as all good big sisters must be, but she's not domineering or obnoxious--yet. "Look, Lorelei, I got a new book! It's from Nana. See? Here, you can hold it, but don't put it in your mouth. Lorelei, you're not listening. I said no mouth. I'm going to take it back now."

Charlotte LOVES to make Lorelei laugh, and when she's not outright laughing at Charlotte's antics, Lorelei is gazing at her in rapt adoration. The sister thing is so new to me---I just had a lame-o brother, so watching Charlotte and Lorelei's sisterly relationship bud is just the sweetest, most gratifying thing. I love that they'll have each other as they grow up and when they're (eek!) GROWN-UPS.

Anyway, Charlotte's love for Lorelei is, I believe, genuine. She tells anyone who'll listen--the ear specialist, other parents in the school hallway, check-out clerks--that she has a sister and her name is Lorelei. When Chris or I bring Lorelei into her classroom for drop-off or pick-up (we always drop off/pick up in the order that PREVENTS Charlotte from entering the baby room), Charlotte's little buddies immediately gather around Lorelei, and Charlotte proudly stands by the car seat like Vanna White, presenting her sister to her friends for the umpeenth time. Out of the blue, Charlotte will happily sigh, and say, "Mommy, I love my sister. I love Lorelei." I believe her. I really do.

And, for being 3 years old, Charlotte has been patient, waiting for her playmate to grow up. Lorelei, week by week, has grown and developed, becoming less fragile and more engaging. In short, she's more fun to play with. And we have to admit, Charlotte does a spectacular job of entertaining Lorelei. While Chris and I scramble to finish getting ready for work in the morning or make lunch on a Sunday afternoon, Charlotte and Lorelei . . .  occupy each other. Oh my goodness, it's the most glorious phenomenon.

Lorelei's growing up (sniffle sniffle) reached a big milestone lately in that she rolled over! Now, this was a big deal, because Charlotte never rolled over as a baby. Ever. This was a first for us! Then, when I picked her up on Monday, I had a State of Maryland release form attached to Lorelei's clipboard. I had to acknowledge that I was aware that she could roll over and indicate if I was okay with her sleeping on her tummy, if that's what she preferred in her crib. I said yes and signed.

I chatted with her teachers--they're so sweet and excited when the babies reach these milestones too!--and learned she was already flipping herself over to sleep---and napping longer as a result.

Now, Lorelei has many, many wonderful and endearing qualities, but her ability to nap is NOT one of them. She is a crappy, crappy napper. Oh, and did I mention she hasn't slept through the night since getting sick 12 days ago?

Anyway, last night I put her in her crib on her back. She fussed and started to cry, and I steeled myself for a fun half hour of crying it out---not any mommy's favorite thing. But about 45 seconds later, the crying stopped. Chris and I looked on the video monitor, and the little darling had rolled over onto her tummy and was happily dozing off.

That night we checked on her before heading to bed ourselves. Now, between my two children, I have checked on sleeping babies at least a thousand times. But never have I checked on a baby sleeping on her tummy! I was totally weirded out by it. (In case you don't know, babies are supposed to sleep on their backs to reduce the risk of SIDS.) My instinct was to either (a) flip her over, or (b) stare at her sleeping to monitor her breathing. In the end,, I did neither, but Chris checked on her via video monitor constantly through the night.

Of course, technically, I knew it was safe at this point for Lorelei to sleep on her tummy. "Maybe she'll sleep better this way and sleep through the night," Chris said hopefully. Oh. So. Hopefully.

Well, she slept through until 5:00 a.m., which beats the hell out of 3:00 a.m. (which is the WORST, because I nurse her and then get her back down around 3:45, which she has sort of been fighting lately, and eventually get back to sleep around 4:15 . . . and my alarm goes off at 5:00---I've essentially been up since 3:00 a.m. for DAYS). We're optimistic that tummy sleeping will help her sleep through the night again, though I decided to play it safe and remove the cute little ladybug bumpers from the crib. (Yeah, I know, you're not supposed to use bumpers in the first place--I DON'T CARE.)  Do I think she'll suffocate on them? No, especially not when she sleeps with her face jammed in her mattress. But I'll sleep better knowing they're out of there. In the event she wakes up with arms stuck in railings or something, we'll put them back in.

So, we're finally starting to see Charlotte and Lorelei as a pair, not just Charlotte By Herself and Lorelei By Herself. Each girl is fantastically fabulous independent of her sister, of course, but together, they're pretty awesome. Oh, we just love these girls of ours!