Baby Envy

Fiona was the youngest child at her day care for her about 10-11 months after she started. Since the middle of summer, two new babies have joined, while Fiona has aged into the toddler bracket.

Apparently she's noticed that babies get more attention.

According to Rita, Fiona has asked to play in the baby bouncer after seeing one of the babies use it. She's asked for pacifiers when she sees the babies with theirs (this despite the fact that she hasn't used a pacifier at home since before she even started day care, and the fact that she's never expressed interest in pacifiers when she sees any of the older children who still use them sucking on binkies at day care). When she's seen the babies eating mush out of a jar she's asked for a bite. The other day she apparently asked for a bottle; she hasn't used a baby bottle since she turned one.

It doesn't seem to be a real problem--Rita is mostly amused by Fiona's behavior, and 99% of the time Fiona is quite happy to take advantage of all the skills she's acquired since moving beyond the 7-month-old bracket. And one of the reasons we love Rita so much is that she and the other grownups are amazing at giving attention to all the children, so it doesn't seem like Fiona is actually starved to be noticed. But it looks like as we head towards her second birthday our daughter is already realizing that getting older can be a double edged sword.