Six months ago my son was thrust out of being the baby and given the title of big brother. He wasn’t sure what he was getting into—to be honest, I wasn’t either. But he’s settled into his role beautifully. Cheering up his baby sister when she’s upset, sharing his toys, and teaching her new tricks.
Between his big sister doing cheer and other activities, and his little sister needing a lot of attention when she was first born, he hasn’t done many activities out of the home just for himself. But that changed recently.
If you ask him about his favorite things, running is likely to be at the top of the list. He will run down and back on the driveway, around inside the house, and race his own shadow (I’m not joking).
I decided to sign him up for a recreational track class at the YMCA and he is loving every second. His smile is infectious and we all love cheering him on. His little sister watches him with adoration. I imagine she’s wishing she could run alongside him.
When my first two were babies, for the most part, I was able to work around their schedule. But the thing about having older kids with a baby, is that a lot of the time our littlest one just has to go with the flow. So I just toss some snacks and the baby carrier in the car, and bring her along for the ride.
Now that Lee Lee can sit up it’s getting easier to prop her up on a blanket with a couple of snacks. She loves her newfound independence.
When she gets hungry it’s usually easy to nurse on the go, but now that she’s enjoying solids I’m packing easy things she can eat too. I love Brandless Baby Food because it’s a simple organic meal on the go in a no fuss pouch. No GMOs, and a wonderful mix of fruits and veggies. I haven’t found a flavor Lee Lee doesn’t like yet, but so far her favorites seem to be Organic Pear, Spinach, Kale and Pea, as well as the Organic Pear and Prune (I guess she really likes pear). Sometimes I’ll stick a whole apple or pear in my bag to share with her, but this way I know she’s going to be satisfied if she seems extra hungry, and I’m not worried about missing her biting off a chunk that’s too big.
It’s not always easy to keep an eye on my budding track star as well as a talkative big sister, and a baby probably just days away from crawling. So having things that are easy to give her make a world of difference.
We can high five him on one hand, and keep a snack in the other.
One of her favorite distractions are Baby Teething Wafers. She just got a couple of bottom teeth in and she absolutely loves chewing these up. I always make sure to toss a couple packages in my diaper bag so I have them for her to gnaw on if she gets fussy. Like the Baby Food, these are also organic and gluten free, as well as made without artificial colors or flavors.
There are two things I find appealing about ordering from Brandless: 1. Most of the prices are between $3 and $9. Makes it easy to add up my shopping cart total. And 2. There’s a subscription option. So I can schedule automatic deliveries when I know I’ll be running low on baby (or other household) items I’ll need and get deliveries as often as every two weeks. I don’t know if it’s just me or if most of society is beginning to trend this way, but I rarely go inside grocery stores anymore. Between grocery pickup and delivery I can usually avoid my chaos that is shopping with three kids.
My boy is only 5 years old. He’s still learning to read, and he sometimes acts like a dinosaur. But to his little sister, he’s a jokester, a playmate, and her little hero.
I know she’s not going to remember these days… Propping her up on a blanket while her big brother runs down the track. But he will. He always looks over as he’s crossing the finish line to see if we were watching. He always has a bright smile on his face when he declares if he won, lost or came close. Lee Lee gets excited watching all of the back and forth action. And I hope this is the start of something special. Being sister and brother means being there for each other. And I hope these three are always there for each other. Always each others’ heroes.
