CutiePie Rivalry

Poor, Ez.  He’s been the adorable baby of the family for his entire life.  A position he likes just fine.  One so deeply established that I didn’t think much about how he would react to having a one-year-old in the house.

We’ve had two sets of housemates who each had a baby while living with us.  Ezra was crazy about the first, a boy who was born while living with us.  Not as crazy, but not upset by, the girl who was nearly one when she moved in.  So I had no idea just how jealous the little guy was going to be when CutiePie moved in.  What I had forgotten was that both of the other babies had their parents here.  They weren’t real threats to his position in our family.  Not so CutiePie.

Since she has moved in, he is talking in what he thinks is really cute baby talk.  And he is soooooooooooo whiny.  Take his normal whiny and triple it.

Last weekend, when I was wondering if CutiePie had an ear infection because she was pulling on her ears.  Ezra responded by rubbing his own ear and announcing, “Yeah.  Last week, I had these bumps on my ear and I was wondering if it was an infection.”

Yes.

And today, my friend Vanessa and I were noting just how cute CutiePie really is.  When Ezra popped up from the other end of the house and lamented, “So I guess she’s the cutest one in our house.”

Ohhh.

Zach doesn’t share Ezra’s distress.  He just loves CutiePie, and loves taking care of her. He is the consummate big brother, by both birth order and nature.

When I suggest to Ezra that it could be hard to have a baby in the house, he says, “Nah.  She’s good.”

“Well, yes, but it could be hard when someone else comes in and gets a lot of attention.”

“Not really.”

When I was pregnant I was so stressed that I was ruining Zach’s perfect little world.  My pediatrician reassured me, “The best gift you can give your child is a sibling.”

Which turned out to be true.  Ezra’s name means helper in Hebrew, and it has been clear since he was first born that he is going to help Zach.  In many, many ways.  But perhaps most of all by giving Zach a chance to be a big brother.

CutiePie will probably not be around long enough to shape that part of Ezra’s heart.  But you never know.  Perhaps there will be more CutiePie’s in our future…