On being the second...

Hello everyone!  This is Joshua, and I thought it was time I let everyone out there know what it's really like to be the second-born.

Me, sleeping peacefully while my family put
up our Christmas tree.

Me, realizing they were actually letting my
big brother help put on the branches.

First, have you realized you've seen no pictures of me in the bath-tub yet?  I have it on good authority that by the time my big brother was two-months-old, there were already almost 100 pictures of him at bath-time.  Me?  Notta.  Not that I'm complaining that much.  After all, I won't have to endure those pictures being shown to future friends, girlfriends, graduation or rehearsal dinner slideshows.  I don't envy Benjamin those embarrassing moments.  But still.  How did bath-time go from bask-in-how-cute-the-baby-is to just-get-everyone-clean-and-in-bed-as-soon-as-possible?

Second, I'm pretty sure that when my big brother was a baby, Mom had soft, clean blankets stocked in every room of the house in case he got cold.  Yesterday, Mom had me on her bed while she did her hair.  I was getting chilly, and do you know what she did?  She grabbed Daddy's sweatshirt off the floor and threw it over me.  I mean, really, a dirty sweatshirt, Mom?

Also, people tell me that when Benjamin was a baby, his cry got Mom's attention in a millisecond.  She was constantly aware of how he was doing and whether he might be on the verge of maybe thinking about being upset.  Last week at Bible study, I started crying and Mom looked around for a full five seconds wondering whose baby that was fussing.  "Hello, Mom!  It's me!  Your second-born?  The one in the infant carrier by your side?  I need outta here!  Earth to Mom!"

Finally, I would just like to say that I bet Benjamin never heard this come out of Mom's mouth… "Hang on just a second, dear.  I need to finish changing Elephant's diaper!"  You see, my big brother has decided that anytime I need a diaper change, his stuffed elephant needs a diaper change, too.  Meaning that Mom has to tie a new blanket around the elephant's waist.  And I understand that this is a healthy way for my big brother to deal with the fact that Mom has somebody else besides him to take care of now.  But do I really have to sit in my yucky diaper while mom ties a pretend diaper on a stuffed animal?

Ah well, even after all that, I can't complain.  I'm getting tons of kisses and cuddles and Benjamin even tries to share his toys and books with me.  I can't wait till I can actually play with them!  Merry Christmas, everybody!

Love,
Joshua