When Kali was making her way into the world, we did everything by the books to prepare Loo for her arrival. We bought the big sister books, we showed her mommy's growing tummy, we tried to teach her the concept of sharing and prepare her for the time that mei-mei (Chinese for little sister) would necessarily demand from mama and papa.
We needn't have worried - Loo has been completely enamoured of Kal since she arrived. Many of our early pictures of Kal also include Loo hugging her, smooshing her face up to Kal's, holding Kal's hand. And to this day, Loo continues to look out for her mei-mei. She will run around to get Kal's shoes when we are going out, she'll get toys for Kal to play with if Kal's bored. Loo gets a bit grabby when the two of them want to play the same toy, but it's not bad, and she'll usually even give up a toy, with only a bit of prodding. She had no problems when Kal had her birthday, even though it meant so many many presents for the little one and so few (the conventional one) for her.
If only the same could be said for Kal. Kal has a serious mean streak in her. Like teeny meany mean. When Loo was teething, it only took a week or so to teach her that it isn't right to chomp on other people in order to alleviate the itching. She took to chomping inanimate objects like a real champ. But for Kali, no matter what we do, she keeps taking large bites out of everyone: me, her dad, her nanny, the next door neighbor. Always followed by a gleeful sly smile when she gets reprimanded. And these aren't playful nibbles - they are full on, leave teeth mark, draw blood bites. My daughter the vampire.
Usually, this doesn't affect Loo at all. Kali likes to bite the people who are holding her on their shoulder, and Loo is clearly not holding Kali at all. But yesterday, the two of them were playing around the kitchen table when Loo stuck her finger in Kali's face. Kali took one look at the succulent morsel and bit down hard on the proffered digit. Poor Loo. I have never seen her howl like that. She extracted from Kali's mouth one very red finger with prominent teeth marks.
Kali is starting to do toddler things like toddling, first words, real (unpureed) solid foods. And she seems, for the most part, disinterested in her older sister. I have read so many stories of younger siblings whose suns and moons rise and fall with their older siblings. Kali couldn't care less what's going on with her sister. She doesn't toddle after Loo, she doesn't squeal in delight when she sees Loo after Loo's been gone for a while, she fights off Loo's displays of affection. It makes me sad.
Partly, I wonder if this is temporary or permanent. Will they actually be close as grown-up sisters? I've never been close to my own sister, partly because of sibling rivalry, and partly because of a whole race/identity thing that we both went through in our late teens, but I remember being close as children. I've always envied those who had great relationships with their own siblings and hoped for the same for the kidlets. Is this lack of enthusiasm on Kali's part only a pre-vision of what is to come?
I hope not for Loo's sake. The kids got a heart as big as a mountain. From whence it comes, I know not (since both her mama and dada have unfortunate tendencies to be reserved and sometimes petty). It's a wonderful thing. But as in life, you get rejected enough times and it makes you not want to give so much anymore.
On a completely different note, a colleague showed me the following FO (fuck-off) resignation letter from an investment banker yesterday. I believe this has been circulated for a few weeks now, but it just made me LMAO! I'm not the confrontational type and I would never have the cojones to do something like this, but I applaud the verve.
From: Mauldin, Jonathan-IBD+
Sent: Sunday, September 16, 2007 7:03 AM
To: [Redacted]
Cc: [Redacted]Subject: Sorry everyone
I'm leaving the bank now.
I'm not made to do this. If I put my mind to something as much as I do here to mindless text editing, copy and pasting, and getting yelled at for stuff other people can't/won't/don't do, I would be much better off. It's 6:43 a.m. on a Sunday, and I have at least 14 more hours of work to do today that will not be fulfilling, useful, appreciated, recognized, or paid for.
Sorry this is last minute, but it's just not worth doing more
My blackberry is on my desk
Apparently that failed staffing request was fatal (no, not as in I'm going to kill myself, hehe, I'm just going to go enjoy life). There is no happiness here.
I took all my personal stuff. No one needs to contact me for anything (except for a drink for those of you with my personal number). I will only be at my New York address a few days longer.
Good luck y'all,
Jonathan Napier Mauldin
UBS Investment Bank
Global Healthcare Group
299 Park Avenue, 36th Floor
New York, NY 10171
(P) 212.821.5273
(F) 212.821.5482
[email protected]P.S. I’ll be waiting for some smart-ass associate to send a “best-practice e-mail for how to quit properly”. Thank you XXXX, XXXXX, and XXXXX for your previous e-mails. I will be sure to keep your tips in mind.
Hahahaha..that's awesome. I've always wanted to send an "eff you" email like that to an employer..I've never had the nerve.
I'm an older sister, and I too was very into my sister when she was born. She was like my personal Cabbage Patch Kid! And now we're grown up, and I couldn't imagine a better friend. I'm so glad to have her.
Posted by: teahouseblossom | October 03, 2007 at 08:52 PM