0  | 

I found this helpful Thank You! Your vote will be tallied soon!

I think you're too big for that now...

"Cordy, you can put on your shirt. You're a big girl," I tell her.

"Nooooo! I'm a little girl!" she cries in response.

I chuckle. "You're a little girl like Mira? A baby?"

"Yes! I'm a baby!"

We have this conversation nearly everyday. Cordy refuses to admit that she's a big girl now, and is therefore expected to act like a big girl. In her mind, she's still a little girl and wants to cling to her little girl ways. Like needing help to get dressed. And wearing diapers. And not expecting to do any work.

While it's taken Cordy a long time to admit there is a new baby in the house (only seven months!), she is now studying how Mira is treated and wants that same treatment in return. It's hard to explain to a three year old why I'll feed Mira with a spoon but I make her hold her own spoon. Telling her that Mira can't feed herself doesn't help, because she'll just think of a reason why she can no longer master the hand-eye coordination required to find her mouth with her spoon.

I think we have a small case of jealousy here. Cordy is capable of doing many things, but fights me on each one because she wants to avoid the work. Never mind the fact that Mira can't even crawl yet - if Mira won't hang up her coat, then Cordy sees no reason to do it, either. And so I'm stuck with two babies to care for, and a pile of coats on the floor to hang up.

Thank goodness she's limiting her rebellion to simple acts like eating and dressing. I can't imagine how I'd deal with her if she decided she wanted me to carry her everywhere, or demanded a bottle or laid on the floor and cried like a baby.

The only area that bothers me is potty training. I spoke with her teacher at preschool today and asked if Cordy had made any progress with potty training there. The teacher confirmed that she still isn't interested. Cordy will go with the other kids into the bathroom, open a stall and peer inside at the child-sized toilet, and then turn around and walk out. I was hoping that the influence of all of her friends - most of whom are potty trained - would spur her into trying it herself, but she insists on sticking with her diapers for now. She even knows when she's going, but refuses to sit on the potty.

I understand that being a baby might look tempting. Sure, it sounds great to eat and sleep all day, be fed, changed, and cuddled on demand at the slightest whimper, but she's missing the downsides. Mira has no control over anything, and she has no ability to run and play like Cordy. It must be frustrating to have legs and not quite know how to make them do what you want them to do.

Someday it will be cool to be a "big girl" and she'll want to do certain things for the sole reason that she can do them and Mira can't. When that happens, Mira will likely become the one wanting to be just like her big sister, nagging Cordy to let her play with her big kid toys.