When I was pregnant the second time, people would nod knowingly and say "you know, no two kids are ever the same." Bollocks was my thought, oh really was my spoken comment! I mean come on...once you've handled the whole peeing, pooping, privacy-invading, peace-destroying experience of having a child, what can be different the second time? Turns out the nattering masses were right after all. I have spent the last two days with my second daughter with ample time to reflect upon the fact that god was laughing his gob off watching me drown.
The whole experience the second time round is cool... until the baby is born of course. Body used to stuff and baby is all fine. And the sibling is over the moon at having "a friend to play with." Until of course, said older sibling is told, please don't pinch the baby, don't get into the baby crib while the baby is still inside, no you cannot help change a poopy splattery diaper and spread the mess around, no noise please because the baby is sleeping, etc etc ad infinitum. All of which you did with the older one too except there were no tender feelings that got bruised! So now add one annoyed, jealous, retrogressive sibling into the mix and my horror story gets worse!
Fast forward a year and the "baby" is a monkeying toddler who bears no resemblance to the older one. I have now had my first experience with child-proofing the house. I do not even bat an eyelid when K-Poo falls off the table...no broken bones, no teeth falling out, we're good (how she got on the table is a whole different story!)! And have had one toy destroyed by being thrown into the bathtub (when it was full of soapy water and a 5-year-old), four things including my gloves thrown down the toilet (we never leave the door open, ever!), every bottle of cream emptied twice over (never buy anything that's not discounted!), and etc etc etc as the King of Siam might say!
And I behave like a first time parent ... because every single thing is NEW, dash it! I get worked up, I dash about trying to prevent things... only to see she's done a Panzer move on me and attacked an unthought of avenue for disaster. And she has the energy of ten of those stupid drumming bunnies! D-Poo never did any of the above, stayed in one place when we asked her to and generally keeps getting more and more angelic in our memories! Basically, I am finding out that second time over feels like 10 monsters have joined the house instead of one tiny little body!
So the next time, the busybody telling a second-time mom "it'll be so different with this one" will be ME!
The whole experience the second time round is cool... until the baby is born of course. Body used to stuff and baby is all fine. And the sibling is over the moon at having "a friend to play with." Until of course, said older sibling is told, please don't pinch the baby, don't get into the baby crib while the baby is still inside, no you cannot help change a poopy splattery diaper and spread the mess around, no noise please because the baby is sleeping, etc etc ad infinitum. All of which you did with the older one too except there were no tender feelings that got bruised! So now add one annoyed, jealous, retrogressive sibling into the mix and my horror story gets worse!
Fast forward a year and the "baby" is a monkeying toddler who bears no resemblance to the older one. I have now had my first experience with child-proofing the house. I do not even bat an eyelid when K-Poo falls off the table...no broken bones, no teeth falling out, we're good (how she got on the table is a whole different story!)! And have had one toy destroyed by being thrown into the bathtub (when it was full of soapy water and a 5-year-old), four things including my gloves thrown down the toilet (we never leave the door open, ever!), every bottle of cream emptied twice over (never buy anything that's not discounted!), and etc etc etc as the King of Siam might say!
And I behave like a first time parent ... because every single thing is NEW, dash it! I get worked up, I dash about trying to prevent things... only to see she's done a Panzer move on me and attacked an unthought of avenue for disaster. And she has the energy of ten of those stupid drumming bunnies! D-Poo never did any of the above, stayed in one place when we asked her to and generally keeps getting more and more angelic in our memories! Basically, I am finding out that second time over feels like 10 monsters have joined the house instead of one tiny little body!
So the next time, the busybody telling a second-time mom "it'll be so different with this one" will be ME!
Comments