I've been getting alot of questions about how Harper is doing with Harris. To be honest, we were prepared for utter chaos but overall, Jared and I are pretty pleased with the transition. It hasn't been silky smooth but compared to some of the horror stories I've heard, we're happy.
I'm sure it's not easy having the world revolve around you for your entire life and all of a sudden, BAM!, there's this new intruder in your life. Suddenly, those people who love you so much aren't able to give you every single second of their time and energy. There's this thing here now that's loud, demanding and taking the attention off of you. Just think about it - it must be awful. But Harps has taken it in stride.
When she first met him, we made sure that we gave her lots of attention. She pointed up, said "baby, baby" and then it was off to explore the hospital room. She came to visit every day at the hospital and still didn't seem to into her brother at all. I tried not to make a point of making it all about Harris when she came to visit but more about the Squirrel. But since we've gotten home, she's seeming to warm up to him more and more each day.
Don't get me wrong. She's definitely been more sensitive than normal with a few total meltdowns and has developed a new habit of hitting that we're working on. But Jared and I totally get that this is pretty crazy for her so we're trying to be as patient as possible, spend plenty of QT with her and making sure we involve her in everything that we're able to....and explaining a few times a day that hitting is not nice, we need to be gentle, practicing "gentle touches" and, yes, timeout for repeated hitting.
While I'm feeding Harris, she'll bring me books, toys, dolls, etc and it give us some time to play - although a couple of those books have been chunked into Harris's head when set down on the couch but no major damage done. Honey also brought Harps a new baby doll bed complete with blankets, burp clothes and pillows. Harps will disappear and we'll find her tucked away in her room playing with her babies. It also helps that she's had plenty of attention over the last week from Honey and Grandy, Grammie and her cousins.
Little does she realize that in just a few short months, she'll have a completely captive audience. And in just a few short years, she'll have a little boy just begging for her attention that she can dress up as a princess and play tea party with - well, until he discovers Transformers or whatever the rage for little boys will be at that time! I can't wait to see the bond between these two develop. I'm sure I"ll have more than a few bumps and bruises stories before we get there but for now, they've only been minor.
