Bringing home a newborn with a toddler?
My son is two weeks old now, so I guess we've been home about a week and a half. My daughter, who is 18 months, has been absolutely wonderful. She pats him on the head (gently, of course) and gives him kisses on the forehead, and I swear I've heard her say "brother" a few times. She even goes over to his pack-n-play to check on him when he starts crying. She's even been behaving better in other respects; she's attempting more words, she's acting better at mealtimes (although she was never really bad, and she is starting to get to the "picky eater" stage). She's suddenly (like, overnight) trying to be more independant, wanting to drink from adult cups and wanting to feed herself all the time, which she never really was interested in.
What has happened to my daugher?? Where is my little hellion with the temper tantrums and the screaming fits? I expected unbridled jealousy, and instead I get this little angel. I've got to admit, I'm not sure how to take it.
Kidding! I'm glad she's taking it better than I expected.
Anyway, all joking aside, there's one thing I've noticed that is kind of weird to me. All of a sudden she's carrying her "lovey" around all the time. She used to just hug it when she went to sleep, but now she carries it all around the house. She asks for it (usually just by pointing, granted) at the strangest times, like when she's eating or sitting on the couch with us, or playing with another toy. Is this normal? Do you think it's her way of comforting herself with all the changes that have been going on around here? Should I encourage her to keep carrying it around, or try to keep her from becoming too dependant on it? There's no harm in her being attatched to a stuffed toy... Right?