Thursday, July 14, 2005

Please Mama, choose me.

Oy. The things that can break a mommy's heart. Tonight, after a huge meltdown about getting out of the pool, we finally had the little prince in his pajamas, the stories were read and he was ready to be tucked in (the little princess had gone to sleep in the midst of all the getting ready for sleep activity). The prince said to me "Mama, you nap in bed with me." which means, in my 3 year old's lingo, "I want you to sleep with me and cuddle me all night long."

I told him I could snuggle with him until he fell asleep (after the huge meltdown I figured it wouldn't take long). I climbed in next to him and he snuggled in tight. Within a few minutes, the little princess was awake and crying...and crying and crying and crying. D went to her and tried to calm her. After 5 minutes I whispered to the little prince "I have to go take care of the baby. She sounds hungry." My little prince snuggled as close as he could get - our bodies were almost one - and he said in a sad little voice "No Mama. Please stay. She no hungry. She ok."

What is a mommy to do? Her little prince needs her desperately, he is rarely as needy as he was tonight, and the little princess is screaming her lungs out searching for her comfort, which is me. I felt completely torn in two. Stay? Go? I just didn't know who's heart to break.

I stayed with the little prince and in a few minutes the princess calmed down. I knew she was safe her other mommy's arms and yet still......

These are the choices I dread. When I'm standing there and they both need me at the same time - who do I go to first? I think that *this* is the hardest thing about having more than one child.

1 comment:

Estelle said...

Well... I've always heard that you tend to the older one, because the baby won't remember. But, I guess you just *know* which one needs you more. They both know you love them equally. Somehow I doubt either of those babes gets neglected.