Someone New in My House

When my oldest daughter was 2, she learned she was going to get some company.

 “There is going to be someone new in our house,” I said.

 My daughter saw that as an invitation for a game of pretend – one of her favorite things to do besides reading books with her daddy and eating Cheerios and raisins, a toddler’s version of trail mix.

 She wondered if the “visitor” was going to be a cow or a kitten.

 I told her this visitor would only have two legs.

 “Like Gwammy?” she asked.

 “Kinda…only much smaller,” I replied.

I proceeded to tell her she was going to become a big sister and how she was going to be able to show her new baby all her favorite things when she got big enough. That was the first of many, many conversations we had with her to prepare her for her new sibling. I had heard one too many horror stories about first-borns and their adverse reactions to additional family members. My husband and I desperately wanted to minimize rivalry and properly prepare our eldest.

Months later, when her new sister arrived, she was very good with her. She was my little helper, bringing blankets and bibs and diapers to care for her new sister. We were careful to maintain our play and nap and mealtime routines, but especially reading time – her favorite even then. With a toddler snuggled up on one side and a newborn in the crook of my other elbow, we read book after book on a daily basis. My toddler loved it, and my newborn was soothed by my voice.

The only small bump in the road was my oldest’s disappointment in the size and agility of her newborn baby sister, as well as the unexpected noise a baby brings into the household. Along with my explanations, I made a book out of construction paper, colored pencils and tape. It was written from the perspective of an older sibling, and my daughter loved it.

“Hey,  just like me!” she said, gleefully.

  We read that book every day for many, many days. A family classic, you might say.

 Sixteen years later, I pulled it out of a keepsake box that had been stored in the attic. It was yellowed and brittle, but it brought a smile to my face and to my daughters.

 Fearful that it would completely disintegrate or get eaten by squirrels if I returned it to the attic, I put the tattered-but-prized book on the top shelf in the guestroom closet. …But not before I preserved the keepsake forever.

 I had recently become a member of the Big Universe website community and was able to use the authoring tool to reproduce “Someone New in My House.” I kept the text word for word as it had been written for my little ones, but opted to use the book site’s vast graphics library to upgrade the illustrations. I was tickled pink at the results.

 Other members have created books too, telling tales with morals, funny anecdotes and stories that help children cope with the death of a pet or the fear of going to school for the first time. To say that this online children’s website is family-friendly is an understatement. It’s easy. It’s fun, and it’s addictive.

 The creative possibilities are endless on Big Universe, which makes this online learning tool priceless.