Sweet Pea as Big Sister

Sweet Pea is our third granddaughter. Until a couple of weeks ago she was the youngest child in her family. But Sweet Pea recently became the Big Sister to Lili. Her parents had prepared her for this change in status because after being their youngest for three-and-a-half years they anticipated some adjustments.

Sweet Pea seemed to relish the change from being The Baby to being The Big Sister. And as a casual observer I think I can say that the transition has gone smoothly overall. But Lili was only hours old when it became clear that Sweet Pea had harbored some false notions about what her benefits would be as Big Sister.

That first shock came when she discovered that she would still be required to sit in a carseat. She thought that this is something big sisters do not do because her two big sisters do not sit in them anymore. True, Tigger has a booster seat, but it is definitely not the 5-point harness system like Sweet Pea requires. So while Sweet Pea has graduated to the back of the minivan due to her elevated family status she has not graduated to a booster seat due to state laws.

Other of Sweet Pea's "Big Sister" misconceptions have come to light. The most humorous - to me, anyway - involves something that happened when she was sitting with me in church. Yes, when Sweet Pea sits with Gram (that's me) I feel that I must stay on the alert. Remember the myriad rubber balls and their suction cup and light displays from earlier this year? See here for that story.

On this particular Sunday night our church was holding communion. At such times it is not unusual for either Sweet Pea and/or her sister(s) to be sitting with me as their mother sits in the front where she can hastily get to the piano for the closing hymn and their daddy sits behind me with whatever of his offspring are not beside me. On this particular night only Sweet Pea was in my row.

As the unleavened bread was served I saw a shocked look on Sweet Pea's face as the plate bypassed her. She was decidedly not pleased. By the time the cups were passed I was aware of the mounting storm forming so I opted to hold my cup in my hand and risk a spill as opposed to my usual manuever of putting it in the cup rack ahead. I feared I would open my eyes from prayer to find an empty vessel at the appointed time if I did.

By now Sweet Pea was overly indignant and the storm broke. She stood up, turned around to face her daddy, and with hands on her hips demanded in a loud whisper, "Why can't I have it now? I'm a big sister!!"

I asked the Lord to forgive me for my undignified giggles but I suspect that He was engulfed in a few of His own.