Bringing Up Mr. Mom
The other night, The Husband was working super-late and I had bedtime duty on my own. Madeline was being a little bit fussy and we were at the point where she needed to just settle herself down. After feeding and changing her, I put her in her crib and dimmed the lights. Of course, she wasn’t especially happy with the scenario, but sometimes it’s ok to give them a little bit of time to learn how to soothe themselves, you know?
As I left her room, I told Nicholas to keep the noise to a dull roar and stay out of her room. With the monitor on, I headed downstairs to do a bit of work. Ten minutes later, Nicholas comes to the top of the stairs.
“Mommy, mommy, you have to come upstairs,” he said with great urgency.
“Why, what’s the matter?”
“It’s Maddie. She’s crying.”
“I know, honey, it’s ok. She’ll settle down in a few minutes, she’s tired, don’t worry.”
He gave me a crestfallen look, but walked back to his room.
Minutes later, he was calling me again.
“Mommy, I can’t do it. I can’t let her cry. She’s upset.”
“Honey, I promise you, she will be fine. Don’t take her out of the crib.”
A few minutes later, all was quiet. I finished what I needed to do and headed back upstairs.
There he was. In her room. He had pulled up a chair next to her crib. He had filled her crib with stuffed animals, and was singing to her and holding her hand. I could tell it was all he could do to restrain himself from climbing in the crib with her.
It’s tough bringing up Mr. Mom. Especially the five-year-old kind.
Maddie is one very lucky girl.
April 19th, 2008 at 9:01 am
Aaaww…. that is so sweet. I can’t believe how grown up Nicholas is!!!
BTW I think Maddie is giving you the finger in this picture LOL!
SIL
April 19th, 2008 at 10:41 am
what a sweet story! i predict you’ll have a real ladies’ man on your hands here in a few years. :)
April 19th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Awww. :-) Don’t you just love moments like those?
April 19th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
We subcribe to the self soothing philosophy also. My seven year old gets very upset when the little one is crying. Yeah for big brothers.
April 19th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
oh, that is so sweet. Nicholas is such a sweet big brother. you are right, Maddie is very lucky to have such a nice brother.
April 19th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
How precious! He is such a great big brother. Maddie, just watch out for when you want to start dating…they’ll have to go through Nicholas first! :-) And I love that he totally obeyed you…he didn’t take her out of the crib!
April 20th, 2008 at 12:37 am
Okay, that is just THE CUTEST thing EVER!!!
What a wonderful big brother!
April 20th, 2008 at 11:24 am
Ohhh, I loved reading your post, that was the sweetest thing!
What a nice brother Nicholas is!
Ana
April 20th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
You’ll have to show him that post one day when they’re both teenagers. Very cute story! :)
April 29th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Cate, you’re very lucky to have such a lovely 5-year-old boy to dote on his little sister so much. Do you mind sharing what way you brought him up? It’s really sweet…