sisters

I’ll try to get some better pictures of us soon…for now, this is what we’ve got.

When I asked John, teary-eyed (those hormones!), what he thought Ari honestly felt toward her sister at this point, he replied, “I think she thinks Evie is something cute she gets to kiss from time to time.”  Sure enough.  Most every time I bring Evie into the same room, Ari leans towards her and starts puckering her lips.  Oh my heart!

Just two days before Evie was born, Ari came down with a wicked fever.  My normally not-so-cuddly, all-too-independent (is there such a thing?) little girl became a pathetic, adorable mess who wouldn’t leave my arms.  (A febrile kiddo is one of the saddest things.  Motrin = wonder drug!)  Luckily she turned around pretty quickly, but we are certainly worried about daycare germs getting our newborn sick.  The idea of having to take Evie to the ED to get a spinal tap, urinary catheter, blood culture, chest x-ray, and antibiotics makes me pretty sick (though of course the alternative is worse).  We asked the neonatologist who examined her in the hospital for suggestions, and I thought her advice was simple and awesome.

There’s really no way to isolate a newborn from her toddler sister if they live in the same house.  Sure, regular precautions like hand sanitation go a long way.  But it also helps to encourage the toddler to lightly touch (or kiss as the case may be) her little sibling on the top of the head and the bottom of the feet.  That way she doesn’t feel completely forbidden from contact, but she avoids the face and hands (which go straight into the mouth), the most direct routes for transmission of disease.

Luckily, Ari could not be happier with her brief contact with the top of Evie’s head…I think she likes the funny feeling of Evie’s fur-like hair against her lips.  And a recent thing: when Ari gets home, after she takes off her shoes, she likes to press the bottom of her feet against the bottom of Evie’s–makes her (and us) giggle!