After giving birth, my husband brought our older daughter to meet her baby brother, and when she saw the newborn for the first time, she said a sentence that left both of us completely shocked
When I found out we were having a boy, my first feeling was pure joy. But almost immediately, I thought of our daughter, who had just turned a year and a half.
I knew very well that older children are often jealous of younger siblings, and sometimes that leaves marks on their small, vulnerable psyche. I was scared. I was afraid she would feel unnecessary, forgotten, replaced.
So every day I talked to her — stroked her hair and told her that a little brother was growing in mommy’s belly, someone she would have to love and protect. She seemed to understand. Or pretended to.
Who knows what goes on in the mind of a one-and-a-half-year-old child? But after the birth, something happened that was so unexpected I will never forget it.
I was lying in the hospital room with the newborn in my arms when my husband walked in with our daughter so she could meet her brother. My little girl stopped by the bed and stared for a long, very long time at the tiny bundle wrapped in the blue blanket.
It was as if she was thinking, or searching for the right words, or simply trying to understand why this small, wrinkly creature was in her mom’s arms.
— Mommy… why did you do this? I thought you were going to give me a big brother. But he’s small! My dolls are bigger than him. Take him back. I want a big one. Like Daddy.
My husband turned pale, then red, then turned away coughing to hide his laughter. I bit my lip so I wouldn’t burst out laughing. The nurse went to a corner and pressed her face against the wall — otherwise she would have fallen to the floor laughing.
But after a few minutes, our daughter, still pretending to be a very serious grown woman, slowly walked closer. She touched the blanket with her fingertip, looked at her brother, and almost whispered:
— Well… okay. He can live with us… for a little bit. Then you’ll bring me a big one. A good one. And this one — I’ll break.
And within an hour she wasn’t letting anyone near him — not even my husband. Because, as she said:
— This is my little one. I will raise him myself. So he becomes big.
