In honor of Julie... and little boys, too

Aimee from Greeblemonkey sent out word about an online baby shower for Julie of Mothergoosemouse, who is very, very pregnant with a baby boy. Everyone is honoring her by offering up a post with advice about raising boys. But because Julie's son is going to grow up in a house with nothing but sisters, I thought I'd tweak the advice to "raising older girls who happen to have a younger brother."

Julie, I know you honestly don't need advice, as others have already pointed out. You and Kyle are highly capable of holding your own in the parenting department. And your girls, as young as they are, already seem incredibly perceptive in terms of controlling their urges to choke people. I thought mine did, too. But my oldest seems to lose all sense of good manners when it comes to her brother. Maybe it's because he's been caught rummaging through her underwear drawers in search of missing Pokemon cards. And has been known to use her lip gloss as body lotion. And has generously contributed artwork to her diary. And has "accidentally" passed gas a few times in front of her friends during a sleepover. Because of these things, Toni tends to snicker when her brother trips and falls. She relishes the opportunity to point out he has a booger hanging out of his nose, and conveniently can't hear any and all sentences that begin with, "Toni, HELP!!!" I guess my advice would be to train your daughters to treat the baby of the family as a human being, and not the annoying, totally uncouth pet that they might think he is sometimes.

Last bit of advice: Warn him early of the dangers of putting rocks in ears. When Jonah got a rock stuck in his ear, he lost some of his hearing because of the surgery it took to remove it. As it is, I repeat myself quite often in Jonah's presence -- Elbows off the table. Elbows off the table. Turn out the light behind you. Turn out the light behind you. Get your hand out of there. I said get your hand out of there!! Now, though, I repeat myself twice as much because he can't hear me:

Me: Jonah are you done?
Jonah: No, I'm not dumb!
Me: I know you aren't dumb, but are you DONE?
Toni: Yes, Mom, he's done. Dumb. And also DEAF.

I can say this with certainty because I myself am one: Older sisters can be a royal pain in the ass. But again, Tacy seems quite lovely in that role. I hope it lasts forever and ever.

Good luck, Sweetie!