My seven-year-old son, Ben, begged for a sibling for almost three years.<\/p>\n
Every birthday, every Christmas, every random Tuesday when he thought persistence might finally wear us down, he asked the same question.<\/p>\n
“When am I getting a baby?”<\/p>\n
So when my husband, Daniel, and I finally told him I was pregnant, Ben screamed so loudly our neighbor knocked to check whether someone was hurt.<\/p>\n
When Brenda was born, things became more complicated than we expected.<\/p>\n
The doctors explained that Brenda had Down syndrome and started walking us through tests, specialists, therapies, and things we might need to prepare for.<\/p>\n
Daniel and I were overwhelmed.<\/p>\n
That first week, every appointment seemed to introduce a new question, and I barely knew which one to ask first.<\/p>\n
Ben wasn’t.<\/p>\n
The first time he held Brenda, he stared at her tiny face for about ten seconds.Then he looked at me.<\/p>\n
After that, Brenda became “his baby.”<\/p>\n
He picked her clothes. He sang badly whenever she cried. He showed her picture to cashiers, teachers, neighbors, and one confused delivery driver.<\/p>\n
At night, he would stand beside the bassinet and whisper goodnight as if Brenda could already understand every word perfectly.<\/p>\n
For the first two weeks after we brought her home, I thought Ben was handling the transition better than any seven-year-old possibly could.<\/p>\n
Then he stopped sleeping in his bedroom.<\/p>\n
I found him under Brenda’s crib one morning with his pillow, blanket, and stuffed dinosaur.<\/p>\n
I almost laughed.<\/p>\n
“Ben, what are you doing?”<\/p>\n
He blinked up at me.<\/p>\n
“You have a bed, you don’t have to sleep here.”<\/p>\n
“I know.”<\/p>\n
“An actual bed.”<\/p>\n
He shrugged.<\/p>\n
“I like it here.”<\/p>\n
I assumed it was sweet.<\/p>\n
Our son had waited years for a sister, and now he wanted to protect her.<\/p>\n
My mother-in-law, Diane, disagreed.<\/p>\n
Diane had been staying with us since Brenda came home. At first, I was grateful. She cooked, cleaned, folded laundry, and kept telling me to rest.<\/p>\n
But when she saw Ben sleeping beneath the crib, she frowned.<\/p>\n
“You shouldn’t encourage this.”<\/p>\n
“I’m not encouraging anything.”<\/p>\n
“I do.”<\/p>\n
“Clearly not firmly enough.”<\/p>\n
I rolled my eyes.<\/p>\n
“He’s excited.”<\/p>\n
Diane looked toward the crib.<\/p>\n
I rolled my eyes.<\/p>\n
“He’s excited.”<\/p>\n
Diane looked toward the crib.<\/p>\n
That annoyed me.<\/p>\n
“Ben loves her.”<\/p>\n
“Children can love someone and still resent the attention they get.” She lowered her voice. “He needs to understand that the baby isn’t the center of the universe.”<\/p>\n
“She’s two weeks old, Diane.”<\/p>\n
I dismissed it.<\/p>\n
But Ben slept under the crib again the next night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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