Kid Sister and Me

Nothing perks a weary soul like a beloved sibling and our Pink Princess is with us for the weekend.  Our Hip Chick glows when her big sister enters the room.  She arrived yesterday bearing gifts- a coloring book, vitamins (thank you, Nana!), and a Pillow Pets Dream Lights (pictured above).  Our hippie's new fluffy friend projects stars onto the ceiling- Big Sis wanted her to have something comforting to look at while in traction overnight.  As a mom, this falls into the "why didn't I think of this?" category, but the obvious answer is "because that's why G-d gives us sisters."  A very considerate and thoughtful gift, indeed.

Big Sister pulled out all the stops today in effort to help lift the little one's spirits.

Just before breakfast...

During our after breakfast reprieve...

Learning with colors and mechanics...

Reading...

A few minutes without our eyes glued on them and the traction unit became a fort. (Quickly remedied, but you have to admire the creativity!  And we were concerned Big Sis would be intimidated...)

The girls played so well together that I pulled out a very special finger paint.  I had been saving it for the right moment and I did not forsee a more appropriate time.  Crayola claims the "paint" works only on special paper.  My maternal sensibilities cringed as I doubtfully allowed gleefully encouraged them to fingerpaint.  On the floor.  With no smocks or respectable protective gear.  And the baby still in her traction unit.  (Two weeks with little sleep and my tightly wound self had a, dare I say it, spontaneous bout of devil-may-care.)

The girls enjoyed themselves thoroughly and... no mess (thank you, Crayola)!  Big Sis (who is my "bonus" daughter) named me "Mimi of the Year" for this move.  My only criticism of the experience is that the "paint" only makes rainbows appear on the paper.  Perhaps our local Target was understocked- I will check for additional paper options next opportunity I have.

Just after dinner...

The girls enjoyed a fantastic day together.  Admittedly, tasks such as brushing teeth are easier when Big Sis is around, as our little hippie loves to mimic everything that Big Sis does.  And our princess was so remarkable in her ability to take the experience (of her little sister in traction) in stride, that Daddy treated her to a special outing and shopping trip.  We anticipate a fantastic day with her again tomorrow and look forward to seeing her again next weekend.

I had mentioned in a previous post that we felt it easier to prepare our Pink Princess for our Hip Chick's birth than for this event.  She mentioned today that she has been discussing it with her teacher and friends at school.  It would be naive for anyone to think that such an event would not affect a sibling.  We are just fortunate that Big Sister handles such things remarkably well.  She admitted that the traction unit and seeing her little sister in traction was not quite what she envisioned.  I hope this is a good sign that it was not as scary as expected.  For her, we believe it was good that she did not visit during our hippie's initial days in traction.  I think that siblings who live together full time would need additional preparation and consideration for the "first week" experience.