As the older sister of five younger siblings, I grew up with a strong sense of motherly protectiveness. At the tender age of seven till nearly 14, I was often the voice of reason during times of childhood creativity with the first two of my four brothers. An example being when my older brother and younger brother decided it was a good idea to test out their new bikes by constructing creative jumps. Though this alone seems questionable, it became increasingly more so when my brothers decided to each lay next to the jump as the other launched themselves and a brand new bike over the freshly cut grass and the face of their sibling. I believe my exact words were, "That's dangerous, you weenies!" Luckily, neither ended up with tire marks burned forever across their faces. Throughout the course of my life I have seen four of my six siblings come home from the hospital, changed diapers that would frighten any monster out from under the bed, done countless story times and sing-along books that would mysteriously break (don't ask, don't tell), seen first steps and heard first words, babysat so much that I can pronounce every line of Finding Nemo, saw a generation of Land Before Timers become Octonauts and made so many kid lunches my appetite still consists of spaghettiO's and pop-tarts. Now, there are older sisters who are maybe one or two years older than their younger sibs, and then there are older sisters/second moms who are, oh, lets say anywhere from 10-16 and up years older than their siblings. This is for the OSSMs of the world and their siblings. There are 12 things that only we would understand.
1. Asking if your baby sibling wants any of their Gerber Puffs, Arrowroot Cookies or any other kind of snack so you can secretly eat their food. Are you the one to blame for taking food out of the mouths of your baby siblings or the company for not making these snacks for adults? It's a tough call.
2. When you hear your baby sibling crying on the monitor and you get up at the same time as your mom. Right, your job, my bad.
3. Being able to smell a poopy diaper so well that when you are out with friends you can tell that their sibling or child needs to be changed before the parents know.
...and making them suddenly less hungry so you can eat their food. Those puffs really weren't enough.
4. Not noticing how your baby siblings ask a billion questions because the first sibling's first million built up your callous...but not your friend who is having an aneurysm next to you.
5. When people think you are great with all kids because you do the "big sister thing" so well and you'll "obviously be a good mom," but really children terrify you. If its not blood-related we are playing the game of hide-and-seek where you never find me.
6. Covering their eyes when Scar betrays Mufasa because if it's too much for you, it's too much for them. Their little hearts should never know such pain.
7. When your younger sibling wants you to help them prank the baby sibling and you react like they've asked you to assassinate the president.
...But how about pranking dad?
8. When your baby sibling asks you if they come with you to get the mail and you insist they hold your hand the whole way to the edge of the driveway.
9. You volunteer for bubble bath time duty an unreasonable amount of times.
10. You don't call your baby siblings by their actual names but instead say, "honey," "babydoll," "sweetie," "buddy," "little-one," and "my love." Wait, what actually is your name, again?
11. When random strangers think that your baby sibling is YOUR kid. "Aww, your son is so cute!" #waitwut
12. You cannot go to sleep unless you've kissed your siblings goodnight and helped tuck them in. You need to know that they know that you love them more than life every second of everyday.
