‘To have or not to have’ was the BIG question that was doing the rounds in our minds. This one in respect to whether or not to go for another baby.  At a time when most of our friends around had only a single child, things seemed hunky-dory for a while.  Gradually, the change started creeping in, it was so minute that you really had to look hard to notice it.  It kind of began with my older daughter’s (doll) reluctance to go home after playtime, not wanting to leave her friends for the night.  Having visitors (specially ones with little kids) were eagerly looked forward to.  But the joy in anticipation and the fun times spent together would soon dissolve into an emotional trauma when the time came for them to leave! Nobody who comes home should go back!  I started getting an idea of the loneliness my doll was grappling with.  While she never openly asked for a sibling apart from a couple of times, she wanted one desparately and it was apparent to anyone who cared to look. 

We had always told her that her “cousins” were her brother and sister.  But the difference between a ‘cousin brother’ and ‘real brother’ was revealed to her tender mind by her cousin brother himself.  Second of two siblings, he once unwittingly asked her where her ‘real brother’ was?  The look on my doll’s face broke my heart.  That was the day I decided that Iam not going to let my doll wallow in loneliness and deprive her of a valuable experience of having a sibling in life.  Growing up, sharing, fighting, loving, caring with a sibling are experiences that are not just wonderful but irreplaceable. 

When the little arrived the “don’ts” were more than the “do’s”. “Don’t” carry the baby, the baby doesn’t hold his head yet!”. “Don’t go to close to him, he will catch an infection” . “Don’t touch him with your unwashed hands”. My little doll went through all this and more till she was “allowed” to play with him at an “appropriate” time.  They are now inseparable, the little one adores his big sis and the same goes for her.  Though there are enough spats between the two but I know the vacuum without two would have been too big for any of us to bear!  The beauty of it lies in the moments when I see them sleeping blissfully curled up in each other’s arms early in the morning, my little one laughing hysterically at his sister’s funny antics or his concerned calling out “Didi” when he suddenly misses her presence in the long school hours of the afternoon!