The fate of a younger sibling

David and Julia are 17 months apart. Having such a small age difference between the kids has its pros and cons. It is a lot of work to take care of two little babies as a lot of people know, but the rewards are endless. Somehow I doubt Julia would agree with me though. She is a younger sibling and there don't seem to be any rewards in sight for her. Here is a peak into her daily sacrificies.

Julia gets woken up earlier from her naps or skips them altogether because I need to take David either to a daycare, classes, play dates or speech therapy.

She tags along everywhere David goes. He basically commands her schedule.

Julia occupies a back seat of their fancy stroller which means little to no view except her brother's back.

She is stuck eating chicken almost every night for dinner because that's the only protein that David eats (not including peanut butter and eggs). I cook two dinners every single night, one for the kids and one for me and Seth, so making a third one for Julia would be ridiculous (although making a separate meal for the kids is bizarre). Luckily for me, she doesn't mind stuffing her mouth with a whole drumstick.

And there is always the physical abuse. As soon as David sees her in the morning, he runs towards her screaming "Baby! Tickle!" and there is no escape for the poor girl. The mistake she makes is laughing non-stop when he either squeezes her hand, tickles her or shakes his head with a head full (not so full anymore) of hair in her face. It encourages him to do it again and again until she gets fed up with this and doesn't think it is funny anymore.
(It is obvious why the picture is missing).

The meaning of sharing is non-existent for David. Not only won't he let her play with his toys, she can't even touch her own either.

Lately, he's been getting better at letting Julia play with one letter out of his alphabet puzzle.

But sometimes, a moment like this happens ...


and I think maybe Julia doesn't have it so bad after all. Speaking from my own experience, I've always liked having an older brother, but I can only hope my son grows up to be half as good to Julia as my brother has been to me.