Surviving as a second child

Oh my! can't take your eyes off them for a second can you?

Back in the good old days when we put our babies out in their prams for daytime naps, to sleep in the fresh air, DD (second child) was peacefully asleep in her pram.

A frantic knock came at the door and there was my next door neighbour, to say the pram was upside down in the front rose garden - no sound from the occupant. Paniced, heart in mouth I scooted round from the kitchen and hastily pulled the pram out and upright and there, DD was still fast asleep and unhurt. The hood was up and she was swaddled and had landed inside the hood quite safely.

The culprit was DS aged 2 who had decided to take baby for a walk and the as the path was slightly sloping the pram had run away from him and tipped up. From then on he was kept playing away from the pram and it was placed under the window to be in sight at all times!

I was the second child (out of five). My elder brother had dug a hole to bury his teddy ("Is teddy alive?" he asked one day, to which my very honest mother replied "Well, not exactly." This exchange occurred because he had found a dead bird which he and mum had buried, cos that's what you do with things that aren't alive) and I, just toddling, fell into it head first.

Big bro came in very cross that I was in his hole and wouldn't get out! Picture the scene: legs pointing skywards and kicking frantically while I got mouthfuls of soil.

How do we survive! - I too was a second child.

You've never been the same since, have you Bags?
Only joking
I came into our living room to find DD1 (4 weeks, lying in the carrycot) being used for target practice by DS and his friend(aged 3).
Fortunately their ammunition was only small soft toys and their aim very poor!
DD1 still moans periodically about the unfairness of being the middle child

Mishap that brings back memories.......When my daughter was a week old she was sleeping in a carrycot in the living room......I was standing on a kitchen stool hanging terry nappies on an overhead clothes line, when my 2 year old son came through, carrying his sister (round the neck) saying 'she's crying mummy'. I never left them together unsupervised again!!

My DD aged 9 and a half tipped my DS, aged only a few days old, up into a stone fireplace. She said his bouncer just tipped and it wasn't her doing it.

Mishap Frightening! DGS1 is a smallish 2yr 8mnth old. DGS1 would probably find it hard to pick his baby brother up without dropping him. I do hope he doesn't try.

He is not impressed with his new baby brother who is now 5 weeks. He has been doing things like putting his mum's shoes on top of the baby when he is in the carry cot.
When I went over last week DGS1 rushed over to me, hugged me and buried his head into my neck, as he had never done before. I really felt so sad for him. DGS1 has his nose well out of joint and is being difficult.We cannot understand how these little ones must feel.

I have a photo of DS standing by me when I was holding his baby sister just after we brought her home. His incredibly sad expression still upsets me.

DS was rough with his baby sister my grandsons mother. He hit her on the head with a wooden candle stick. Stood on her when she was still very little and wedged into the back of the sofa.

The only thing we can take from this is that this seems to be universal and that it's not just our own child (or grandchild) who seems to have turned into a monster.

I don't think DGD had malign intent - she was sitting on the sofa and wanted him to sit by her.

She has had 2 responses to the arrival of her brother - one is to become a "baby" again using a little toy as a "dummy" and wanting to cuddle up on my lap when mum is feeding baby; the other is to eye up a table or any other surface and slowly and resolutely sweep the contents onto the floor! Could be worse!

My hubby`s 2 eldest brothers, aged 5 and 6,(I know, but this was 70 odd years ago) were told by MIL to take their baby sister, aged about 2, out in the push chair for a walk, to give her a chance to do some housework. They took her to a local beauty spot, trees, glens, little hills, etc, and a couple of hours later they arrived home, minus sister. Asked "where`s our Jean?" they looked a bit puzzled, and said "Jean who?" It turned out that she wouldn`t stop crying, so they pushed the push chair down one of the hills and left her there. When MIL and FIL got there, she was STILL crying!

I am a second child and apparently my sister put a fruit gum in my mouth, to shut me up, when I was a few months old. Mother said it was purely by chance that she saw me turning blue as I was lying in the pram.
The next incident I can actually remember, I must have been two and my sister got sick of me following her around so she put my leather harness on and fastened me into the pram, walked out of the room and shut the door so she could not hear me cry.
I never tire of reminding my sister of how cruel she was to me

I am the elder sibling of 2 ....him and me....5 years between us ....he says in social situations he is scarred by my ministrations....washing of hair under boiling tap as was left in charge told to wash hair ....was told to look after him aged 2 ..I was 7 ..he run off and hid so I went home...so on so on ....hes still a whinger ...