I have nephew stories to share and I know we’ve got other baby people here who no doubt also have stories to share! I love baby stories, let’s have a nice cozy chat.
I’ll start!
My younger nephew, Nephew B, is going on 8 months and trying very hard to be mobile. Only he can’t seem to crack traditional crawling, instead he does a sort of flopping swimming thing where his tummy stays on the ground and his legs kick and his arms pull to drag him forward.
My older nephew, Nephew A, is Not Happy about the new mobility of Nephew B. Nephew B tends to go for Nephew A’s toy cahs, which requires Nephew A to be on constant alert to pounce and grab and say “NO NEPHEW B, that is MINE”. As a solution, my sister suggested that maybe the cahs should live in their bins instead of on the floor so Nephew B can’t get them. Nephew A’s response was “I think Nephew B should live in a bin and the cahs should stay out”.
In other baby news, my parents went over to meet the new baby of my friend, who is one of those magically easy babies (all she does is eat and sleep and smile at you). And as a gift for the Big Sister, they brought a flashlight. Not a special flashlight, just a regular hardware store flashlight. She LOVES it. I never would have figured on that, but apparently flashlights are amazing presents for small children.
Okay, now you tell baby stories!
dontcallitbollywood 
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For child number 3 I discovered that the money (other people) spent on bouncy chairs and entertainment seats for the kids were pointless because a cardboard box did the trick just as well. I mean you had to adjust the size as the kid grew but honestly just stick the baby in the box that is tight enough to support his back and throw a toy in and tada – total entertainment. The flashlight is the orignial light up entertainment toy – push a button and MAGIC! And a bonus for parents is that it does not include cheese electronic music.
Doesn’t nephew B have some cah’s of his own? (though he will ALWAYS prefer Newphew A’s cars, perhaps until adulthood)
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Nephew B does have his own cahs! And Nephew A and my sister have had many conversations about how they each have cahs and have to respect each others cahs. Unfortunately, Nephew B has not yet learned his lesson. Also, Nephew A’s cahs are just SO MUCH BETTER than Nephew B’s cahs. With so many more choking hazards and sharp bits and danger.
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I’m up early for the watch a long so I’ll spend this time sipping cold day old coffee and writing down some more kid stories. Current stories.
Blue Hair Story
The 11 year old is not like the 8 and 14year old. He is obviously not like them because he has brown hair and the others are blond. He is also introverted, where his two brothers are extremely social. He is also perceptive, where his brothers are more laser focused on their interests without always seeing the world around them. His perception gives him a truer sense of this world and the people in it, but his grades aren’t as good.
The 11 year old has wanted to get his ears pierced since he was in kindergarten. His father and I agreed to NOT let him get his ears pierced in kindergarten. But by fourth grade, as he still wanted his ears pierced I supported it. Not his dad. His father is scared he will be made fun of. Both the 11 year old and I are trying to wear down his dad, I think we may succeed by Christmas of 2023.
Meanwhile, partly because the 11 year old unjustly can’t get his ears pierced, when he asked me to dye his hair blue last month I agreed. But he didn’t want to wait in for the good dye to come in the mail (no 1 day shipping where we live), so we had to buy the cheap dye that rubs off on pillow cases at Longs. He liked his blue hair. At school he got nicknames, but not mean ones. His brothers called him Blueberry.
His friends at school, almost entirely first generation Mexican Americans who culturally put a lot more importance on appearance than my own family, told him his hair had no style, so he asked me to cut the sides shorter (I cut my families hair, even my own hair, badly). I did and he liked it, he started using gell to try and style his hair.
We went on vacation, swimming in pools and the ocean. His blue hair dye came out. We bought better dye this time and used it, but it it gave his hair a sheen he didn’t like, and it wasn’t as dark as we thought it was going to be. He said he wanted to go back to his original hair color. I told him we could dye his hair brown, or buzz off the bleached parts. He chose the buzz. Now he morns his slightly longer hair.
The 8 year old wants to dye his hair blue now. I told him he has to wait till 5th grade.
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Oh my, hair is so complicated. And I understand exactly what you mean about your other two versus the middle one. In a way it is nice that he is visibly different looking too, so there is less of an assumption that he will be just exactly like the other two by folks who see your family from the outside. Of course, the blue hair would have helped even more. I like that his friends were worried he had no “style”, sounds like he will have support in his journey of image experimentation. How does he feel about his younger brother possibly also having blue hair? Does it feel like he is stealing his thing, or does he not care?
Thank goodness, the 11 year old is still telling you when he needs things and wants things. I suspect in a few years he will have a much harder time communicating even to his parents and you will have to constantly guess. But then on the other side, by mid-twenties, he will come back and be the most open of all your kids.
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The 11 year old DOES NOT want his brother to mimic his hair. He would definitely feel like the younger sibling was stealing his thing. Interestingly the 8 year old often says his hair is turning brown like his brother’s.
At the dinner table we say “What was the best part of your day?” and the 11 year old says “Nothing”. But when I pick him up from school he typically talks nonstop for up to 10 minutes. He is also MUCH more comfortable asking me questions about puberty and sex than his 14 year old brother.
We were talking about sexual positions last night as we were watching the new Bridgerton prequel. He asked me how many times I had had sex and was BLOWN AWAY by the fact that not only have I had sex more than 100 times, that I had sex AFTER his younger brother was born. He shared the info with the 14 year old who declared it was too much info.
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Cardboard boxes are just the best toys in general. You can draw on them, put things in, imagine them to be anything you like, and you can even sit in the biggest ones.
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Genevieve— your stories are so fun to read. Also, your box story made me laugh because my sister was taking care of Mr. Toddles yesterday for a bit at her house which does not have any toys so she improvised by putting Toddles in a cardboard box and giving him vitamin bottles to shake. He had a blast. I’ll send Margaret pics to send to you!
Margaret — thank you for this topic. Being the oldest child, I can totally relate to Nephew A. Also, Nephew A is hilarious!
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I think things may come around at some point and Nephew A will compulsively want whatever Nephew B is playing with. At least that’s our experience right now that “Baby” isn’t really a baby anymore, but a real walking, talking playmate.
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Will things get easier or harder once both kids can be talked to understand rules? Right now all rules are given to Nephew A and he has to follow them without any support from Nephew B. But on the other hand, there’s no talking back.
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Hmmm. There’s still some inequality in how well they’re able to follow the rules. But we do think that it helps Big Boy to see that yes, we do remind Baby of the same rules, too.
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Different children have different personalities, but always expect that it will always get harder. It only got easier for me when I could leave the kids home alone to go to the grocery store.
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Having a babysitter helps, too.
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Ok here’s my baby story. My little one is almost 15 months old now and loves the little rides at the malls which have a video game attached to it. Husband and I had decided he was too young for these games but I’m traveling on work now and the next thing I get on my phone is a video of the kid in that car refusing to leave it and return home with his dad. Ah well. They start young!
I think this is a hard time for Nephew A as he’s getting all the rules while Nephew B seems to – in his view – lead a wild wild west life… He has my sympathies 😦 Love the flashflight tip btw, thank you!!
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You should buy a riding game with screen for home! Or I guess just use a cardboard box (Genevieve’s idea) and hold your smart phone up in front of it. He won’t know the difference.
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