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November 16, 2012

Thank Goodness for a Sisterly Advocate



When the girls came home from the hospital, we took them straight to the pack-and-play in our bedroom.  They rarely left that little cocoon until they were about 10 weeks old.  And consequently, I spent lots and lots of time in the bedroom, too.  That’s where we fed babies, changed babies, dressed babies, bathed babies.  I spent “awake time” reading and singing to them, and I’d spend at least some of their naptime napping myself.  And of course they were within six feet of me while we slept (or tried to sleep) at night.

I think it was this near-constant togetherness that made me so aware of the girls’ each and every noise.  And from a very early age, I’ve been able to discern who was making which noise.  Certainly the girls’ voices are different, but even their coughs and sneezes and laughs and grunts I can determine with a pretty fair degree of accuracy.

That skill has come in very handy, of course.  I know who may not be sleeping well, who’s calling for me, and who is still zonked out, despite her sister jumping on the bed.

Over the past several weeks, though, I’ve gotten a little thrown a few times.  The girls have had a couple of bouts of the sniffles, and that’s what I’ve blamed for my confusion.

But for every time I’ve been called into their room by a “Mommy!  Wipe my nose!  or “Mommy!   I need a tissue!  or “Mommy!  I need potty!” I’ve been so thankful that they have each have a sisterly advocate.

Particularly in the middle of the night, out of a deep sleep, I’ll go bounding into their room.  Standing in the darkness, I guess my confusion is apparent.  Sometimes I’ve said, “Who is it?” or sometimes one of the girls will volunteer, “It’s Sissy!  Sissy needs her nose wiped!

And there are times, when I must not respond with the lightning speed that is expected, that one baby is yelling, “Mommy!  Wipe my nose!  and the other is yelling, “Mommy!  Sissy needs her nose wiped!

While the “in stereo surround sound” requests can be a little rattling in the middle of the night, ultimately I’m so thankful that my baby girls have such sweet advocates in each other.

3 comments:

Julia said...

Haha! Running into the girls room in the middle of the night to address a need----I relate to this :) Still!



Trish said...

I love when my girls look out for each other! And not gonna lie, feel a little like Supermom when others are so impressed that I can tell the girls' coughs, sneezes, voices apart! Although as they've gotten older I have been fooled a few times as well (once when we were potty training, which resulted in me running the WRONG girl to the restroom!)

undomestic mama said...

It's funny to me hen people ask, "You can tell their cries apart?" It's not very hard at all as they sound completely different to me, but maybe it's the mom in us?