It's official: ginger baby is teething. And she's being a real weiner about it, too. I'm not going to say she's being a jerk because she's a ginger, and therefore prone to a fiery temper and you know, being soulless and whatnot (allegedly!). But I will say that I do not remember my oldest daughter making this much of a fuss about cutting teeth - unless you count drooling buckets and chewing violently on anything that would hold still. Granted that was eight years ago, but still - Annie was then and still is the resident diva in our house. So the fact that baby sister Estie is outshining her in the drama department right now is really throwing our household out of balance. The shift in family dynamics has actually created a pretty fascinating phenomenon: Annie has become my more even-tempered child! (Anyone who knows Annie just gasped audibly.) When Estie is shrieking her brains out, inconsolable with aching gums and the upset tummy they cause, Annie suddenly becomes this super sweet, patient child. She is calm, collected, even helpful. She doesn't roll her eyes (an adorable little quirk very popular with eight year-old girls) or shoot death stares at the loud, disruptive creature taking all her mom's attention and making dinner not be ready until 8 pm. And the crazier Estie gets, the more composed Annie is. It's like she goes into damage control mode. Like she instinctively knows I'm pretty much maxed out with the screaming baby and I'm using all my energy to NOT to pull my hair out, so she should probably not rock the boat any further unless she wants a broken-down, bald mental patient for a mom. We must just be born with women's intuition like that. Screaming baby = do whatever needs to be done to diffuse the situation. For Annie, that just means being less of a dickhead than her shrieking, teething sister. It sounds easy... but trust me, it is a really huge accomplishment for my wonderful little first-born diva.
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