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.