Monaloca

With a baby sib in both his homes, Kai’s reaction to his new little sis goes from “She’s so cute! I love her so much!” to “There are babies everywhere…” and “I’ve been through this before, you know.” Overall, he’s been as great a big bro to Nalani as he’s always been to Melina. And the two older kids’ relationship has certainly taken a life of its own, with more rivalry but also more “we’re in this together” play.

Melina’s still trying to figure out what to make of her baby sister. She desperately wants to interact with her, but the only way she’s able to get a reaction is by hitting or pushing her, hard. My mom says I did the same thing to Stacie when she was a newborn. Melina knows that Nalani is “not a toy,” that she’s “real,” unlike her Baby Alani doll. Last night she very politely asked me “Mama can you please move Alani? I want to cook.” (Nalani was in a bouncy chair in front of her play kitchen.)

Melina’s protective attachment to Nalani became painfully obvious the first time I took the baby into her preschool last week. Melina was ecstatic to see both of us, and ran right up to the carrier as soon as I set it on her classroom floor. But so did half of her little friends, and when they started to peak inside at a sleeping Nalani, Melina broke down into wailing tears. She was NOT ready to share “her” baby, and was absolutely inconsolable, by both Ms L and me, for a good 10 minutes. Eventually she did calm down and we talked about how Nalani is still her baby, that it’s ok to let other people look and to “share” her in that way. But wow – now I know to tread more carefully and will probably let Melina “lead” the sharing next time.

Finally – and I hate to do this because I always hated when people compared Stacie and me – take a look at the two first-week photos of Melina (3 days) and Nalani (4 days). We think they look remarkably similar (could just be the pose…) What do you think?

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