laws of relativity
last night magnificent charles and i realised something relatively parent shattering:
we have different rules for our different children.
we did not intend this. but somehow, it has happened.
sela and to a lesser extent jasper, if they commence screaming during quiet hours, are largely left to their own devices to soothe themselves back to sleep. a few nights ago, sela was awoken by carys’ sobbing and upon witnessing daddy airlifting sister carys to the safety of his hairy protective embrace, sela started crying.
leave her alone, instructed charles. she’ll find her thumb and stop soon enough.
it took 14 minutes for sela to cease. during that time, we had put carys back down again, and she had continued her wailing. so she was scooped back up again. sela witnessed the second lifting and was cool with it.
but what struck me as odd was, we jump for carys. and not so high or fast for the other two. we are so accustomed to sela sleeping first and longest, that you would think we would jump on the rare occasion when our little lusty lass awakens. but no. however, a prolonged carys wail gets us a hopping.
jasper rests somewhere between the two. he sleeps least of the babies and cries probably the most. but he does tend to soothe himself back to sleep. sebastian, if he cries, gets a "run to" because it means he has fallen out of bed. thankfully those occasions are few and far between.
are sebastian, sela and jasper going to grow up figuring carys is spoiled?
is she?
i really don’t think so. maybe we baby her a leetle. but, not nearly as much as everyone else does. which makes our babying okay, in case you are keeping track. carys goes to bed the same time as her siblings do, if she takes too long to eat we simply remove the bottle or bowl as we would with the others. we are not wrapped around her finger, but we are more aware of the tenuous health. it’s a fact: the chances of carys getting sicker, faster are higher. she could be the preemie olympic motto: aegrum, citius, in mauis.
so if we hear her cough, we’re interested. especially during RVS season. its not like we give her a handful of sugar and soothe her by letting her watch television with us.
by the teen years, i am sure each child will be accused of being treated with favoured eyes. sebastian because he was an only child, jasper because he was the only triplet boy, sela because she attracted attention, and carys because she was so sick and tiny.
but tonight, those teen years and accusations are a decade plus away. i am sure there is something else i can fret about with a slightly closer timeline.
