Family
We finally made it down to Port St. Lucie to check on Mistie, Ryan and Fiona. They seem to be settling in pretty well, although I think we wore them out a bit. I knew how much I missed Mistie and Ryan, but now I miss Fiona too.
Alice has been extremely excited about having a new baby cousin ever since she heard about Mistie's pregnancy, but when Fiona actually showed up, much tinier, more attention-grabbing and less ready to play dinosaurs than Alice expected, I think she was a little overwhelmed. And ecstatic. And overwhelmed. You know, the way you feel about a baby that's "yours." In the hospital she was a sweetheart, but she looked at the baby with a mixture of fascination and...fear? I don't know, she seemed to want to be close to her but didn't know what to do once she was there. She wanted to hug her Tia, but didn't know how to do it with this little other person there.
All week she's been talking about visiting them. She recites the list of descriptions of the baby to everyone she talks with--"She has Desi lips. She has Uncle Cye monkey toes. She has black hair you could braid"--word for word the things all the grown ups have said about the baby. She's paying attention to all that. When we got to Mistie and Ryan's she had the same kind of overwhelmed look at first, but I think after being there for a while, watching everyone else (and getting a lot of love from her Tia and Unky Ry), she finally seemed to relax.
She told Mistie that she should bring Fiona to Tristan's birthday party next weekend because, "She would like to see Liam because he's a baby too." When Mistie said, "Yep, and you and Tristan are the big kids," she seemed rather proud of herself. Not that I want to make a big issue of the big kid/little kid thing--Cye and I got plenty of "you're the big kid, act like one" stuff when we were kids, Mistie and Dani got treated like babies and Renia was left floating in the middle, getting the worst of both worlds--but I think it helps to have a role defined, especially when you're nervous about being shunted into a new spot in the family.
When we went out to dinner, Alice sat next to the baby seat to "keep an eye on Fiona," and she insisted on holding her one more time before we left (poor baby was passed around like a football all afternoon). She kissed her goodbye and said, "See you soon, you little baby baboon."
God, I love that kid!
Alice has been extremely excited about having a new baby cousin ever since she heard about Mistie's pregnancy, but when Fiona actually showed up, much tinier, more attention-grabbing and less ready to play dinosaurs than Alice expected, I think she was a little overwhelmed. And ecstatic. And overwhelmed. You know, the way you feel about a baby that's "yours." In the hospital she was a sweetheart, but she looked at the baby with a mixture of fascination and...fear? I don't know, she seemed to want to be close to her but didn't know what to do once she was there. She wanted to hug her Tia, but didn't know how to do it with this little other person there.
All week she's been talking about visiting them. She recites the list of descriptions of the baby to everyone she talks with--"She has Desi lips. She has Uncle Cye monkey toes. She has black hair you could braid"--word for word the things all the grown ups have said about the baby. She's paying attention to all that. When we got to Mistie and Ryan's she had the same kind of overwhelmed look at first, but I think after being there for a while, watching everyone else (and getting a lot of love from her Tia and Unky Ry), she finally seemed to relax.
She told Mistie that she should bring Fiona to Tristan's birthday party next weekend because, "She would like to see Liam because he's a baby too." When Mistie said, "Yep, and you and Tristan are the big kids," she seemed rather proud of herself. Not that I want to make a big issue of the big kid/little kid thing--Cye and I got plenty of "you're the big kid, act like one" stuff when we were kids, Mistie and Dani got treated like babies and Renia was left floating in the middle, getting the worst of both worlds--but I think it helps to have a role defined, especially when you're nervous about being shunted into a new spot in the family.
When we went out to dinner, Alice sat next to the baby seat to "keep an eye on Fiona," and she insisted on holding her one more time before we left (poor baby was passed around like a football all afternoon). She kissed her goodbye and said, "See you soon, you little baby baboon."
God, I love that kid!