It's not too long before my little guy is going to be a big brother! We have been spending a lot of time talking with Finn about having a baby, being a big brother and what things are going to be like once his little sister arrives.
A few days after we explained to Finn that there was a baby in my belly, he confidently named her Grasser and has called her that ever since. Sadly, we don't have a name picked out yet, so we have also been calling her Grasser for the past 6-plus months. Hopefully Finn is not too hurt when we don't actually chose that as her name.
Anyways, he talks all of he time about how he is going to hold Grasser, teach her things, share his toys.... but I wonder how much of this he really understands and how prepared he really is. His best friend became a big sister last summer, and I think spending time around a newborn and watching his friend make that transition has been helpful. However, I know we will be in for some big emotions once that baby actually gets here.
Our midwives let us borrow a sibling backpack, complete with books and films on birth and being a big sibling, and a nursing doll. We watched the film on babies being born last week and Finn's response to that was "That lady's bottom looks funny. I am going to hide when Grasser comes.". So, yeah.., that didn't reassure me in his preparedness, but it did make my decision for me that Finn probably shouldn't be at the birth (at least not without someone that can leave with him if need be). I also don't blame him, as after watching the film, I got nervous to give birth again. It wasn't so bad giving birth to Finn, but watching it brings back some of those memories that I think I tried to repress.
Anyways, we will continue to read books and talk about being a big brother and hope for the best. But if anyone has any tips that made the big sibling transition easier for them, I am all ears!
I can relate to a lot of these feelings! Dmitri is still somewhat clueless about having a little brother. Although he does know there is a "baby" in there. I'm pretty nervous about the transition. Hopefully it will be smooth for both of us!
ReplyDeleteBe sure to find some time to still have just mama & Finn time--as hard as that might be with a nursling. And call me to come get Finn anytime!!
ReplyDeleteso cute- I have no tips but I do remember that I also read books and talked about it- then when my youngest was born he was ignored by his older brother for the first six months- until he became mobil then it was just- 'he's putting spit on my toys'-
ReplyDeleteThere's going to be a lot of times where you are going to need to tell Finn that he needs to "wait". I made a point to also tell the baby to wait when I was helping Logan and he could hear me say it. This may sound weird, but I truly think it helped Logan know that he was still important and that his needs were important....sometimes even more important than his sister's. So if she started fussing and I was helping Logan, I'd say, "Felicity, you're going to have to wait a minute. I'm helping Logan." Of course, I only did this when he could hear and when she wasn't in need of instant attention. I think it helped instill an idea of how to properly take turns. Sometimes you're first, sometimes you wait.
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