Ate Lia

So how is Lia with Desi? That seems to be the million-dollar question. Even at the hospital, when Lia and Desi hadn't met yet, people were already texting or asking, what Lia's reaction to having a baby sister was. Actually, even before Desi was born, we were all already wondering. Me, of course I was just hoping she wouldn't be jealous. My mom told everyone that when the twins were born, I wouldn't let Nana anywhere near them and I didn't want them to go with us to St. Ignatius. Imagine that. Well, we haven't been to St. Ignatius, but so far, Lia has been very very good about Desi.


When we arrived home from the hospital, she was her usual cheerful self, and didn't immediately notice the little person in Daddy's arms. We had to drag her over to introduce her to her new baby sister. And she said, "Baby Sister!" and ran off to play.

That's generally how Lia is with Desi. When she sees Desi, or hears her cry or yell, she points and says "Baby Sister!". When Desi is within reach, she likes to touch Desi's ears and giggle. She's very gentle when she touches Desi's feet or head. She kisses Desi good night when it's time for her to go to her room in the evenings. She doesn't cry when I hold Desi, once she saw Lola Cora holding Desi, and she didn't get mad either. Sometimes she wants a hug while I'm holding or nursing Desi, but she's careful not to squish Desi between us, and goes to my side to let me hug her with one arm. Once I had to let Desi's yaya Fe hold her for a while, and she cried, "Mommy lang!" to say that only Mommy should hold Desi. That was really cute.

I think it helps that attention towards Lia didn't really diminish when Desi came. Other than I can't spend as much one on one time with her nowadays, since I'm nursing so often that Desi is practically attached to my boobs, Lia's days are generally the same. She still goes shopping with Lola Cora twice or thrice a week. Her Daddy plays with her (Daddy was on a sort-of leave since Holy Week. He's gone back to work today but comes home early.) when Mommy needs to tend to Desi and I make it a point to time Desi's sleeping time so that I can have meals with Lia, and snuggle with her when she watches Brainy Baby before bed time.

We've also had several visitors at the house who wanted to see Desi, but ended up being entertained by Lia. I think she thinks the visitors were there to see her. Because all people can see Desi do is, well, sleep and if they're lucky, blink. And once they've seen that, what else would they stay for? Lia's concert of course! She sings all her songs and does all her tricks, not just to get it over with, but with upped performance level, careful to pronounce each word, even if the careful pronunciation is wrong. Sometimes she will spontaneously sing without you even asking her to sing something. Lia loves visitors, and a new audience always makes her hyper and eager to perform.

So that's how we are with two baby girls. I feel really lucky that jealousy isn't something I have to deal with. That Lia seems to love her baby sister, as much as a two-year-old can love someone who doesn't feed her or take care of her. Of course, we'll have to wait a while to see if she will share her toys and things. But given how she is with Desi right now, I think she'll make a very good Ate.