You Will Call Me Sister, Will You Not?

One of the things that felt entirely new with the birth of Cecily was the interplay and relationship that she would have with Simon.  I grew up an only child while my wife had two siblings, and we were both interested in how Simon would react to having to share "his" house with another child, especially in the early days when we'd probably be lavishing a bit more attention on his new sister.

We'd heard from multiple people who mentioned several tricks they've used to get an older sibling to accept a new baby in the house, including things like the baby bringing the sibling a present upon birth.  We didn't end up doing anything like that, but we had been mentioning his new sister to Simon for quite a while, trying to explain that the baby was in mommy's belly and that it would be coming out and becoming a baby in our home.  It's hard, of course, with a two-year-old, to actually tell how much he understands.  Still, as the due date approached, Simon seemed fairly excited to meet his new baby sister.

So, what happened?  How did he react?  He's swung between being excited and surprisingly nonchalant.  Simon first met Cecily in the hospital, when we went to visit before bringing mommy and baby home.  While he didn't immediately bound over to Cecily, he was asking about her and excitedly replied, "yes!" when asked if he wanted to meet her.

We then asked if he wanted to hold her, and he seemed pretty jazzed about that, too.  He smiled down at her, called her baby sister, and gave her a kiss.  Then, as the first few days of having Cecily at home have come and gone, Simon has gone back to being his old self: mostly adorable, often overly energetic, and sometimes a bit whiny.  There are moments when he'll ask about his baby sister, or perk up when Cecily is crying and correctly identify the sound - "baby sister's awake!" - but more often than not, he'll come into a room when we're holding her and act just like he did before.

Is he hiding an undercurrent of jealousy beneath that sweet exterior?  Is he actually oblivious to the presence of the new infant?  Does he already understand that our family has grown and that the love we shared has expanded?  I honestly have no idea.  Simon often surprises me with how emotionally intelligent he is (or at least how well he pretends to understand things), so perhaps he actually understands everything.

It's something I'll keep my eye on as time goes on, as I'm sure the sibling relationship develops and changes as the two kids grow older.  Right now, Simon certainly appears to enjoy having Cecily around and Cecily appears to enjoy eating, sleeping, and pooping.