With all of the updates going up on Alexander's web site, it's pretty
easy to forget about his big brother Nicholas, particularly with
Alexander making a U-turn right back into hospital on the fourth of
February. Complicating this is the realization that one has to be a
Daddy first and a bard second so that were it not for help from others
to help take some of the burden, the sites probably wouldn't be updated
at all for quite a while. Where time permits, stories and pictures will
come (have no fear, even if I can't write them straightaway, I do tend
to keep notes for those times that I can do a bit of composing at the
keyboard).
Of course, when you bring a new child into the world when you've already
got one, you've got to expect that a bit of jealousy is going to rear
it's ugly head from time to time. You've got to expect that when you're
dealing with someone who for almost twenty-one months was essentially
the center of our universe with all of the attendant attention that
brings from all quarters.
Unfortunately for him, sole possession of the attention is gone forever.
But all-in-all, he's actually done quite well for someone who doesn't
really understand about all of the attention being shown Alexander
who he's seen very little over since he was born due to restrictions in
the intensive care units (ICU). He got about a week of seeing him when
he was home and part of a day over this past weekend and that's about it
for these first sixteen days. And in spite of that, he's done really
well with only a bit of the jealousy showing on one of those days.
Honestly, I'm quite impressed that he's doing so well and that gives me
faith that he's going to be an awesome big brother with a bit of
training. I don't know that he's completely connected the dots on the
yes, we're actually keeping him thing but I'm sure he'll figure
it out once we get past these hospitalizations. And unfortunately, one
of the less thrilling jobs of being a big brother is having to grow up
in certain ways just a little bit sooner. I ought to know just how much
the job stinks on ice sometimes and hopefully that will guide me a bit
when it's time to show Nicholas how to be a good big brother. :)
But it's very easy to forget the big brother when there is a little one
that is particularly needy as Alexander is right now. So yesterday,
we decided to let Nicholas run off a lot of his excess energy at the
park. He ran all over the place, climbed all over the play equipment
(no way we're going much longer without a jungle gym out back, I can
guarantee that!), and generally had a great time. Today, Nicholas and
I went back to the park and did pretty much the same thing with the
added bonus of one of Daddy's soccer balls from when he played indoor
soccer (well, was shelled in net as the goalie for most of it but it was
still fun playing the beautiful game). A kick here, a kick there,
an occasional slide or three.
But mostly it was just time to let Nicholas have some attention for
himself (and to run off excess energy!).
Big brothers need that from time to time. :)