Can Jack Come Out and Play?

When parents of a child have another baby, the older sibling (usually) can't wait until the younger one is old enough to play, especially if they are the same sex. Sometimes it can be tough explaining to the older sibling that a new baby does not equal an instant playmate.

For instance, our nephew Kyler--who is already an older sibling--was positive last fall that Kate was going to give birth to a teenage girl. You see, it was Halloween and he was already thinking ahead to the next year. Also, he was enamored with the Pixar cartoon The Incredibles. This CGI cartoon is about a superhero family that consists of the Mom, Dad, a teenage daughter, a younger son, and a baby boy. Since Kyler already had a younger brother, he figured that all they were missing for an elaborate family Halloween costume was the girl. And since Kate was pregnant, she may be able to help him out some with the missing piece of his elaborate scheme. We explained to him that it didn't quite work that way, and he accepted it very gracefully and moved on to other ideas of how to obtain an older sister. (Kate could not get past the painful thought of delivering a seventy pound teen.) Kyler still has grand plans for all of the games and play activities he is going to teach Jack, but he is handling Jack's slow development (slow to Kyler, at least) with great patience for a five-year old.

Homer, on the other hand, is a different story.

To Homer, if Jack was a puppy he should be able to play by now. He is ready to move beyond protecting the helpless puppy to romping with his "little brother." This became evident the other day when Kate and her mom were watching television while Jack dozed in his bassinet.
They looked up and saw the following sight. (Sorry for the poor quality, I'm not sure what Kate was doing with the camera.)

And just in case you can't see what is in the changing table...

This is Homer's beloved squeaky toy "Jumbo." Homer had placed it there for Jack, and as you can see from the photo, he was waiting expectantly for Jack to notice and start playing. At high as the changing table is, it could not have been an accident that it got there. Homer purposefully put it there. No, I don't know why he didn't just drop it in next to Jack but I am glad he did not since it was rather gross and dirty. (Kate put it in the washing machine immediately after this.) Eventually, Jack will make a pretty good playmate for the blackpuppy. But until then, Homer will have to make do with being the overprotective older sibling.

And we hope he does not try to share his rawhide bone next time.