jealousy

i am sooo thankful that since day 1 sierra has loved, and still loves her baby brother. at first she was just really clingy with me and then that went away.

we have just recently entered into a jealous phase. she has meltdowns and it is so sad because we know it's just so hard for her to understand and process all these changes in her life. it's hard to know how to handle these situations because tantrums are not ok, but she's still too young to reason with and expect to control her emotions.

Goo (her beloved bear/best friend) has become even more loved during this time. while he is not allowed to leave the house, he can be found in her arms or by her side at pretty much every moment we're home. she bounces him in the bouncer, feeds him in the highchair, changes his diaper, changes his clothes a hundred times a day, puts him on the potty, swings him in the swing, feeds him bottles, swaddles him, etc, etc. she talks to him and takes care of him and it is precious.

...until...she gets in a jealous moment. it most often happens when i am holding reid and i say out loud "i'm going to put reid in the __________". no matter where it is, she grabs Goo and runs ahead of me as fast as she can to put Goo in the spot that i said baby reid was going to. then she stands there guarding him as i approach.

i always give her a chance first to take Goo out - this doesn't work, she says "no" and doesn't do it. so then i try to explain that right now it's baby reid's turn and Goo can have a turn next. still doesn't work. i offer her other suggestions of what Goo can do instead. still doesn't work. then i give her a warning because she is not listening or obeying what mommy's asking her to do. it ends in a time out for direct disobedience. but we repeat this over and over and it isn't working. the other day i just moved Goo to the side and put reid next to him and said they could share the swing. she didn't like that so she just took Goo out and went to do something else. maybe this will keep working? (any advice here would be great)

she is also possessive of ALL of her things (and reid's) when other babies come over. she doesn't seem to mind when older kids are here, but with babies she does not want them anywhere near her stuff. i think this somehow has to do with jealousy of having a baby in the house too. or maybe she is starting to understand age hierarchy.

ok, i know we'll all get through this and we pray that she and reid grow to be best buds. i pray all the time for her little heart to know and trust how much we love her, to never doubt that. but this is a picture of some of the not so cute stuff that goes on around here these days.