A new sibling

You’re a child.

Your mother has recently had a baby.

So you now have a new sibling.

It feels like a big deal.

And you have a lot of mixed feelings about life these days.

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Your mother looks so happy.

That makes you happy too.

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She smiles when she holds her new baby.

Just the way she does with you.

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But she can’t hold you as much any more.

That makes you sad sometimes.

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Some days you want it to go back to how it used to be.

When you were the baby of the family.

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And you tell her this sometimes -

When she’s with the baby,

Which feels like always.

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“Please be with me”.

“I’m still here”.

“I miss you”.

You say without words,

Because you can’t find the words just yet.

And she listens.

You know she hears you.

She always has.

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It’s just she can’t always come right now.

You are learning this.

Even though sometimes it feels like the hard way.

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But it gets easier by the day.

You are learning this too.

All you need right now is for her to be patient with you.

You need to work through this new stage, just like her.

This is a huge adjustment for everyone, but particularly for you.

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And you want her to know...

You love your new sibling.

You knew this when you held their tiny body on your tiny lap with her arms around you both for the first time.

It felt like that new baby belonged in your home too.

You know this because you want to hold them close, and your mother closer.

You feel this big love.

And you can’t explain it but right now something inside tells you that you can’t have one without the other anymore, but despite how hard it can be sometimes, you wouldn’t want it any other way.⠀

Because together feels better with someone else to share her with.

Together feels like forever.