When Alyson was born, I was quite worried with Ben. During the first 2 weeks, he'll either find ways to hit her (not hard) or ignore her when we asked him to look at his baby sister. I know he doesn't like that our attention has shifted to his baby sister.
Frankly, I envy those parents who tells me how their children bonded nicely when the baby arrives and often wondered what else can we do to make him feel that he's still part of the family and we are not alienating him.
I had to bribe Ben with a chocolate for him to lie next to his sister for this shot!
During his hostile phase, it was quite difficult and I cannot trust myself leaving Ben with his baby sister. I've seen him hitting her (again, not hard) when he thinks I'm not looking.I had to constantly watch over them, what more during the first few weeks post partum I was having tandem nursing aversion.
But now, almost 3 months down the road, I can see improvements already! Ben is showing signs of brotherly love towards his baby sister! Ben was no longer hitting Alyson from this month onwards but he will still not want to touch or look at her unless we asked him too, that also for just a few seconds.
Love, love, love this priceless shots!
The picture above was the first I managed to capture on the spot - secretly of course. Alyson was lying on the bed while I went to grab something from my desk leaving Ben waiting (he was having his breakfast that time) and I was as usual throwing a careful glance at them and I saw it.
Right in front of my eyes... Ben holding Alyson's hand and fiddling with her tiny fingers gently. Then he glanced towards the TV and watched his Disney movie and didn't realise I was scrambling to take the pictures of them.
And then there was the time when we put Alyson on our bed for her tummy time and Ben went and lie down in front of her, just looking at her trying to move and stay up.
The picture below was taken just last week when Ben squeezed onto the chair I was sitting on while Alyson was lying on my legs as usual. Ben just casually took hold of her hands as I gazed on in total admiration.
His brotherly love is growing!
Nevermind that it took Ben almost 3 months to slowly display his affection for his baby sister, I'm just so glad that it happened!