avablog » Big sis

Irreplaceable

map — Mon, 09 May 2011 18:18:32 +0000

I suppose if someone as cute and funny and lovable as Emmett had been dropped into my life when I was four, I might’ve had a difficult time adjusting to it, too. So it’s understandable that Ava sometimes feels like we’re spending all our time and attention on Emmett, even if reality doesn’t support that feeling. She melted down last night and went on and on about how Emmett is replacing her. As if.

And it’s mightily frustrating to try to talk Ava down when she’s railing against her little bro, and against us, because the main plank in Leah’s campaign to create little bro in the first place was to give Ava a sibling up with whom she could grow. Best laid plans.

I believe Ava’s Emmett-related tantrums are almost always a reaction to some other external variable. Not being able to go out and play with her friends after dinner, for example. ECP becomes a convenient scapegoat for whatever’s wrong with Ava’s world at the moment. The fact is that Ava loves little Emmett very much. She looks out for him. She helps him. She reads to him. She gives him big hugs that lift his feet right up off the ground. She knows what a treasure her brother is, and I think it’s because she understands that that she worries her parents feel that way too, at her expense.

And of course we do feel that way, but no one could ever hope to take Ava’s place in our hearts. It’s true that our daughter’s first-mover advantage was a big part of her appeal, but now, six years out, she’s even more special for the person she’s become. Emmett will never take her place, because Emmett never could take her place; there’s only one Ava.

Happy Mother’s Day

map — Mon, 09 May 2011 14:25:38 +0000

We all trucked up to Mount Vernon yesterday to have brunch and and see the town’s annual Chalk the Walk event. The chalk was all fine and good, but it was a gorgeous day, and it was just nice to get out with L and the kids to do something fun. I even managed to get a nice photo of them together for Mother’s Day.

Sibs

map — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 18:44:58 +0000

It’s really cool to see how Ava and Emmett interact with each other as Emmett gets older. Mostly, it’s still Ava acting upon Emmett, but he’s increasingly an active participant in their games. Like last evening, when they got decked out in beaded necklaces and cowboy hats.

Crazy kids. Emmett also still doesn’t seem to have a good grasp of how to pronounce his sister’s name, which you’d think he’d have by now, given how much Leah and I use it around him. On the other hand, he never has to call out to her, as she’s almost always near him.

Transitional

map — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 20:34:49 +0000

I was sitting with Emmett in the living room the other day, listening to Ava cry about something or other out in the kitchen, when I looked into this face and said, “Emmett, why don’t you go give Ava a hug?”

He immediately squirmed from my lap and, with his dad right at this heels, ran into the kitchen and wrapped his arms around his sobbing sis. I cannot put into words how cute it was. Then, this morning, Emmett was with me in our bedroom as I dressed for work. There were some dirty clothes on the floor near Emmett, and I asked the boy if he’d put them in the dirty clothes hamper for me. Sure enough, he picked them right up and dumped them where they belong.

These scenarios were yet another reminder of the fact that Emmett’s ability to understand language surpasses his ability to use it. Though he’s not letting that stop him from talking a lot. The boy and I frequently have long conversations about…something that, I’m guessing, Emmett finds very engaging and/or important. He’ll point at things in the room and gesture wildly towards them as I nod and smile and say, “Is that right, Emmett?”

Yesterday I sat with Emmett and Ava while she played some old home videos over the TV. Emmett was enthralled with the moving images of his big sis as a little(r) girl about his age and size. She crisscrossed the screen with a basket in her hand and a bonnet on her head, collecting Easter eggs from the yard around our old house. She didn’t speak much, save for a pivotal scene in which she commanded “Me” (Gramary) to sit next to her on a bench for a photo op. I was actually a little surprised when I turned to smile at Ava and saw the beautiful, six-year-old version of our little egg gatherer smiling back at me.

Halloween 2010

map — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 20:41:45 +0000

No, your RSS reader isn’t messing with you. This is a new post! I wanted to put up what turns out to be the closest I could get to a shot of Ava and Emmett together in their tooth-themed Halloween costumes:

They were both way into the trick-or-treating, though Emmett was up enough past his bedtime that he lost steam pretty quickly. No such concerns for Ava, who kept going door to door with Aaron and Claire for a good while after Leah took Emmett home to bed. Now we just have to endure the days and days of nagging requests for candy until this huge stash is either eaten or thrown away.