Sibling Rivalry

It's already started. My older son is aware that there is somebody else attracting attention and he is already executing a strategy to nullify this attempted conquest of his territory. While before he looked at the enlargement of my belly with some bemusement, since we have been earnestly discussing his brother's arrival with him, he now looks at my belly with a mix of competition and chagrin. He wants to cuddle more (a plus for mama!) but he expects prime time on the belly, which can be quite uncomfortable for me at times. The current occupant is also not taking lightly to the previous tenant eyeing his property, possibly exacerbating his anxiety in knowing his lease is soon up (wouldn't I be in distress if SF tenant protections applied to my uterine tenant??). So while I've been told by numerous people that the two brothers will fight like little tiger cubs, I didn't expect that the battle would start raging before my younger son was even born. They've already had their first scuffle. My older son jumped on my stomach and my younger son kicked, resulting in my older son, who was on my stomach, pushing back on him, and my younger son kicking back more forcefully until I placed my older son on the floor and separated them.

I've been trying to use the Bananas in Pyjamas stuffed toys to show him how brothers get along (I'm not actually sure if the bananas were brothers, but he seems to go with it). I had my dad in Oz chase down B1 and B2 and send them over and while my son adores them and plays with them often, albeit he is very disinterested in stuffed toys and only wants to play with trucks, boats, trains, planes and anything with a motor, telling him about how the brothers get along is not sinking in as much as I would like (re: scuffle above - B1 and B2 would never act like that!). I'm also fascinated that while one of my son's favourite foods is bananas, he has taken to these stuffed banana toys and understands very well that they are bananas. He's even held B1 while eating a banana and thought nothing of it. I seem to be the only one here that finds this somewhat strange...

Part of my older son's competition seems to be his wanting to nurse again. I haven't nursed him since February, so I was surprised that the past few days he has been coming up to me and tapping my breast asking for milk. If that's the case now, I worry what he is going to think when he sees me nursing his younger brother. My husband is firmly resolved in me secluding myself when I nurse to avoid an incident, but considering how much time you spend nursing the first few months, secluding myself away from my older son to be with my younger son may also incense him. I suppose just like most things respecting parenting, we'll just wing it and sees what works best.