Sister, Sister

TWO carseats back there!

For Little Miss's first outing, I took Her and Little One to the grocery store.  Ooohh.  Exciting! 
Ok so it wasn't the Guggenheim. But it seemed like a big step getting them both out and about for the first time.  The multiple car seats are tricky people! And the one cries like an injured jaguar at the drop of a hat, and the other one scampers about, and there is plenty of potential for things to get crazy! CRAZY Peanuts! 
Well I'm happy to report that the jaguar and the scamp caused no trouble at all.  The list got checked off, and no one was mangled by the double car-seat extraction.  But there was PLENTY of crazy. 
We found it at check out. 
It was waiting for is in the form of a bespectacled middle-aged man. He was our friendly clerk.  I said hi.  I started placing items on the belt.  I had no idea what I'd gotten us into. 
Crazy took one look at the two Littles, and launched into a ranting rampage that was so vehement that it actually had his neck veins popping out a little.  He kept pausing in scanning the groceries to scowl at me and gesticulate wildly, my bag of oranges swinging from his hand.  He was mad at me.  Incensed, really, that I had allowed Little Miss to exist.
Most of his tirade was directed at Little One.  He wanted Her to know that Her life was ruined. 
That She had been replaced and cast aside, and that Her parents would never really love Her again.
He felt so badly for her, having been replaced by "that thing", that he gave Her a free bag of cookies as he spewed all the reasons that Little Miss had wrecked Her life.  He had 4 siblings himself, he wanted us to know, and each was worse than the last, and every time one came along his world got worse and worse, scarring him for life.  Little One would be, too, he assured us.
He finished up by telling me that he also had two children, and that I should enjoy mine now, because by the time they are five I will want "nothing more than to kill them both".  And he actually said that, "to kill them both". 
What I really wanted to do was to grab those oranges and whack him upside the head with them.  But that might not have improved the examples being set.  So I tried to brush off his comments, saying how She loved being a big sister and was a great one, and that no matter how many babies came along She would always be my little princess. But Oh no, he informed Her.  She would never be my little princess again. Whatever I said, he twisted like that, so I ultimately tried to ignore him. He kept at it, though, even as we were walking away.
Little One heard it all.  She avoided eye contact, crunching cookies in the molded plastic shopping-cart car and staring at the steering wheel.  But She was listening.
I was horrified.
So far, Little One has had a few moments of attention-seeking behavior.  But really no overt jealousy, and definitely no animosity whatsoever towards Her sister.  She has wanted nothing but to help take care of Little Miss, to kiss and hug and love on Her all the time.  She has willingly shared my lap even for bed-time stories. When Little Miss fusses, Little One runs over and sings to Her, "rain rain go away, come a-mo-ther daaay!" She pats Her tummy softly, and says in Her sweetest, most concerned voice, "Oh! Hu-nny! What matter? It's ok hun-ny. Don' worry.  I'm here!"  She kisses Her baby sister on the forehead, petting Her hair and whispering, "Oh Baby Miss. I wuf you, so much."
I know that this will not last for forever and always.  I know that there will be jealousy and competing for attention.  I know that there will be arguments and fights and driving each other crazy.  I know because I remember.  I did all that with my sister.  Sometimes we still do.
But.  I also know that while there is nothing like a sister to push all your "annoy" buttons, there is nothing like a sister to have fun with, to understand you. And to cheer you up, give you a kick in the pants, or both when you need it.  Nothing like a sister to be there for you when it counts.
Only my sister, for example, would fly across the country only to send me off for a nap while she scrubbed the heck out of my house- including the sofa upholstery and the walls- and did all my laundry.  Only my sister would bully me into doing my hair, knowing it will make me feel better, and know all the right questions to ask to make sure that I'm ok.  But no, really ok.
My sister and I are polar opposites in many ways.  We have our differences.  And I'm sure I got more attention and more stuff before she came along.  But I can't imagine having gone through life without her; I can absolutely say that my life and I are both better off for having had her around.  And different as we can be, she is one of my very very favorite people, and I know how lucky I am to have her stuck with me for life.
I hope my girls feel the same about each other.
It's true that resources- including parental attentions and lap space- will have to be divided now, that they will less of everything for having to share it.  But. They will also GET more.  More love, because we have plenty of that to go around, and now they get it from each other, too.  More fun, because sisters are much better at playing than moms and dads are.  More of lots of things that J and I simply can't provide on our own.  Like someone who has been through life with them and can commiserate on having had us for parents.  I hope Little One realizes all that, or will, despite what some crazy grocery checker bleats out while man-handling the soy milk.  I'm confident She will. 
Other than Crazy, my first outing with my girls went really well.  Of course it did.  Because I didn't have to do it alone.  I had someone there to help me through it and make it fun. Like so many other times. Like in life in general since I was two and a half, it was ok. Because my sister was there.