The good and the best parts
I am the second-born sister to three siblings; my MAVs as I call them.
My brother was born when I was eleven and I was ecstatic. I had never experienced what it was like with the birth of a baby, and when I saw him with his tiny features, he looked like a real-life doll I could play with. In a nutshell, I lived ‘baby life’ vicariously through him, and these are the good parts:
- Bathing him. This was fun because he was ‘water-resistant’ therefore I had to start 10 minutes earlier with the ‘cat and mouse chase’; catch him then dunk him in the bathtub where he would splash around. (Cleaning the mess afterward wasn’t very rewarding.)
- Feeding him. He was such a great eater, therefore I got a pass on the whole ‘sing a song’ or train gimmicks to make him eat. With a simple ‘aaaah’, he would open wide and the spoon or bottle would do the rest.
- Bedtime stories. The boy never slept before a story, so I read and lived out my acting fantasies during this bedtime routine. I sometimes enjoyed the scary stories, where we would dive under the covers or he would crawl up my head in an attempt to escape ‘Sumji’; the scary invisible grizzly cat.
The best parts were (still are):
- Watching him stand for the very first time. Frankly stating my bro was a ‘lazy child’. We carried him for most of a year and a half; in walkers, our backs and hands. When one afternoon in the yard he was left alone, I saw him first bend on all fours, then lift himself to a standing position. It was an amazing feeling that made me shed tears of literal joy. (of course, when he realized we had found him out, he went down slowly to the ground, sat down, and began crying with his arms outstretched to be carried inside.)
- Seeing his growth spurts. My brother sure has gone through body changes; from his short slender size to his chubby stage and now to his tall muscular physique. We used to lovingly tease him to ‘suck it in’ when taking photos so the abs would come sooner by the time he was a teen, (maybe thanks to that advice and also the fact my dad doesn’t have a ‘dad bod’) it worked! He now has a 4 pack he ‘sucked in’ hard to get. The delight it’s been to watch him grow into a teenager is one of the highlights of him being in existence.
- Excelling in his senior high exams. This was a big surprise given he wasn’t and still isn’t really the expressive type. He used to fluctuate in his grades from a high to a low, and whenever we would talk to him about that, he would just wear this resting ‘b face’ and I would wonder if he was ever listening. He sure did because he passed both our G.P.As. It was an awesome moment, and I felt like a proud mentor. (protégé surpassed the sensei…namaste.)
My baby sister on the other hand came as a ‘nice surprise’ (words said by my parents, which still makes me wonder yet we know how babies come to be 😉😉) I thought since we had baby bro, we would be pros with her. Damn was I wrong! She was a whole mood and below are the good parts:
- Getting her to sleep. This was an entire Broadway show. You would start off with a fast song, singing with all the gimmicks as she sits or lies there watching you, then transition into a mid-tempo as you walk around with her on the back, and the last being a slow lullaby while rocking her to sleep. The approximate time would be an hour and after that, you hope and pray she sleeps for an hour because any slight sound would wake her up to start the process again.
- Her one-of-a-kind crawl. This was an award-winning one. She used to have one tiny leg up and then drag the other one behind as she crawled on all fours. It was a sight to see to the point where my grandpa and dad started questioning whether it was normal or if she should be medically checked. Turns out she was perfectly fine and she just wanted to walk faster, which she actually did in less than a year.
- Her social awkwardness. She has always been shy especially around large groups of people. The irony is she is very outdoorsy thus she likes being outside but always keeps quiet at parties or get-togethers. As she grows up, she is the most talkative among us but still shy around new people or even when many of her friends are in a group. Still trying to figure out how this will turn out.
The best parts were (and still are):
- Her crying phase. Baby girl has had a lot of ‘mood swings’ since she turned three. From the pouty look to the full-on screams in the middle of the night because she wants to go to the bathroom but she is too sleepy to walk there. The epic one was when she was startled in her sleep due to turbulence on a flight from South Africa, and she began crying for 30 minutes until we landed. Once when another kind woman tried to soothe her she increased the volume of her cry which made it worse given the fact that no tears were flowing, just sound. Embarrassing and hilarious at the same time.
- Learning how to talk. Oh my, her pronunciation of certain words will always make my day any day, from ‘crokcho’ — cockroach, ‘abbel’ — apple, ‘ephant’ -elephant to ‘finaga’ — Finnegan. She even used to hold a book and pretend really hard to be reading. Well now she can talk fine but it is always fun when we regale her of her earlier years.
- Growth stages. It has been a marvel to see her grow to the point where she recently had her first period. It always gets me how it is not so easy to notice the changes when she is there, but when phases like periods happen it kind of hits you how far she has come…and how much more she still has out of life too. Proud big sister right here.
So, what can I say from the good and best parts of my MAVs?
That they have shown, taught, and enriched my life more than I can put into words. Without their presence, I don’t think I‘d be confident in my abilities as a daughter, sister, friend, mentor, and hopefully a mother someday. Raising them and being a part of their lives is something I will never regret…EVER! May the best stuff continue to be great and may they know just how much I adore them.
“I do find the sibling connection endlessly fascinating, as I do all family dynamics. I like how siblings seem to create their own parentless mini-civilization within a family, one that has its own laws, myths, language, humor, its own loyalties and treacheries.” — Jandy Nelson
“To the outside world, we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters. We know each other as we always were, we know each other’s hearts, we share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys.” — Clara Ortega
(Song of the day: I‘ll stay- Isabella Merced)
