That has been the constant refrain coming from me and Andy since… let me think… the second Sam was born! Seriously, from that moment on, Kate has been thisclose to him pretty much constantly.
I love the girl, but this habit drives me absolutely bonkers! I don’t know why she insists on being in his face all the time, but I haven’t found a way to stop it. I have tried asking nicely, I have tried time outs, and I have even tried showing her how much better she can see me when I’m a few inches from her face instead of smooshed up against it. She just thought that it was awesome that it looked like I only had one eye and ran over to try it out on Sam.
Sometimes I fear for his safety. I was pretty sure she was going to do something awful to his soft spot, but fortunately we’ve been able to avoid any brain damage. Knock on wood. It’s only been four months, there’s plenty of time for that.
The craziest part is that, most of the time, he doesn’t seem to mind being poked, prodded and scrunched. He just sits there and takes it. I have a feeling that is going to be a theme in their relationship for many years to come. He is a pretty easy-going kid, but every once in a while, he looks like this:
Can’t you just see him thinking “Get her OFF OF MEEEEEEE!!!”?
And he is NEVER of more interest to her than when he is asleep. No, that is the best time to hug, kiss, pull and push him. We’ll say “Kate, what is the rule?” and she’ll grumble back “No touching Sammy while he’s asleep” but it’s like she just can’t help it. He has an irresistable pull.
I can understand it, really. Who could resist this?
And I know… soon enough, she will be locking her bedroom door and doing anything she can to keep him away. I just hope we can avoid any major bodily harm until that day.
at least she hasn’t dressed him up like a girl and insist he be called Samantha…
yet.
Oh, being a big sister can be SO MUCH FUN!
Awwwwwww….what cuties you have! My daughter is the same way with her baby brother. Especially with the sleep thing. It drives me crazy! And he just adores her, so the minute he knows she’s there, all hope of him going back to sleep is gone. I let her smush, I mean cuddle, him a bit… until I hear him start to complain, then I tell her that means he’s saying “no thank you”. After 7 months, she finally seems to be getting it.
Oh, what a beautiful baby! I can see why she wants to play with him when he sleeps. It’s the sweet eyelashes! My youngest is three and I miss those moments.
Oh my gosh. *I* couldn’t resist that sleeping baby! No wonder Kate can’t!
Wait till she gets close to him and he reaches out with both hands and grabs fistfuls of hair!!
I think I’d like to smoosh him too – he’s adorable! I can definitely see why she wants to be close to him…babies just have this incredible smell and well, they are just plain cute.
My daughter is five and her baby brother is eight months and we too have this same issue. She LOVES him, which is of course a good thing. But, geesh, the baby could use some room.
My son has even started to pull her hair, she just laughs and says “Oh, Chubby just loves his big sister.” And he does if she is ignoring him, he hollers out for her.
Your kids are adorable, BTW (:
He’s so cute! I can understand why she can’t stay away from him. She’s beautiful too!
My son is two and half and my baby is 10 months. A kiss on baby’s forehead once in a while that is all he does other than that he doesn’t have anything to do with her. She gets so exited when she sees him I wish he played with her little more. I guess that is the difference between boys and girls. 🙂
Your children are adorable. 🙂
My children have age spans that are fairly short between their births (14 months, 18 months, and the next 4 were 20 months apart), and I have run into very similar issues.
The best way I found to help deal with the “only touch the baby when Mom is around,etc.” was to buy one daughter a Cabbaga Patch Doll, one she chose herself. Of course, I only figured this out with her ( my 6th child! lol), so I went through the whole “the baby isn’t a doll, you know.” with quite a few girls before that.
Miss Cutie-Pie is a born Mother Hen, and she wanted to take care of her little brother constantly (she still does, btw), but at least with her doll, the “special one” she got as a present from her baby brother, she can groom, wash, do hairdos and feed him, just like Mom did. I saw her many times “nursing” her baby, shirt shoved over her head (not quite like me, I must say…lol).
These moments are stressful, but remember your hormones are a bit silly right now, add the constant sleep-deprivation and you will realize that your reactions might feel exasperated and frustrated a bit beyond your normal tolerance.
Taking her out of the situation was the perfect thing, and you seem to have a good handle on it. 🙂 Just take deep breaths, find somethign to laugh about and/or hide in the bathroom for 10 seconds to get your bearings. 😉 (after making sure the baby is safe from ehr, of course)
If that fails, start thinking about the problems you’ll have in 10 years or so, when the dreaded teenagehood is near… eek! That’s enough to wish for the baby days…lol !
Keep smiling 🙂
Adorable!
I have been sucked into a game of online “tag”. I am sort of new to the blogging world, but I thought it would be a good chance to send some people to my favorite blogs – and you guys rock! Just wanted you to know that you are it (if you are into that sort of thing – like you need something ELSE to do)!
Michelle @ http://www.leavingexcess.com
Not to be off topic but those photos totally make me what to have another baby. I don’t know what is going on but I can’t stop thinking about babies!!!
We called this “loving enthusiastically in our household and had the EXACT same problem. Unfortunately it didn’t really wear off until Hannah got big enough to push her off.
We call it “mauling” in my family. Kids get mauled all day – by adults and each other!
We found out quickly that our two-year-old, Sophie, couldn’t keep her hands off of her baby sister. She’d rock her carseat/carrier EXTRA hard and put everything from crowns to boxes on the baby’s head. I found myself repeating the mantra, “Sophie, don’t touch the baby’s…” over and over. Although we believe in letting our kids have fun and roll around with each other as long as no one is bleeding, I had to put my foot down in this situation. Poor Olivia, pleaded with her eyes, “Keep that lunatic away from me!”
Finally, I found something that worked. I began to tell Sophie that when SHE was a baby, everyone tried to keep HER safe. We didn’t let people touch her head, wake her when she was sleeping, put jewelery on her…fill in the blank! It worked! In fact, although it has been ten months (time flies) since I first attempted this strategy, I just used it today! I said (calmly), “Sophie, when you were a baby we didn’t feed you the microscopic plastic Polly Pocket pieces” as I fished around in poor Olivia’s mouth for a tiny party hat. Okay, so it is a work in progress!
Good luck! Thanks for entertaining me with your blog!
My son was 23 months old when his twin sisters arrived… he was EXACTLY the same way. We too were so concerned for their soft spots. Once I went to the bathroom and came back and one of them had her head where her feet should have been in her carrier and her feet were on the floor. “I try to hold sister, mommy!” YAY! I’m never going to the bathroom again!
They’re now 21 months old themselves and, as far as we can tell, he didn’t do any permanent damage. 😉 Number 4 is due in February… we’ll see how the girls do!