You would never guess Naomi was born during the era of social distancing. She’s most in her element with an audience, and my brother-in-law swears he’s never seen her as happy as when her twenty closest friends (aunts and uncles, mainly) serenaded her at her first birthday party.
For that birthday, she received a baby doll from her parents. Naomi’s sister was due in three months, and my niece needed to learn how to share the stage.
My sister, Mariel, and brother-in-law, Brian (who at this point have navigated two grad degrees, two pregnancies, two new jobs and a cross-country move all in the aforementioned global pandemic), gave my niece the doll to practice her “pat, pat.”
The “pat, pat” is a delicate maneuver, equal parts affection and surgical precision. In her demonstrations to her daughter, Mariel just barely set her palm on the faux-baby’s back.
Despite her mother’s gentle instruction, Naomi’s approach better resembled University of Michigan defensive end Aidan Hutchinson’s manhandling of the Ohio State offense (1:53 mark for those curious). After several quick slaps, Naomi grabbed the doll by the arm and body-slammed it to the carpet.
Her technique, my brother-in-law quipped, needed some work.
Beate (Bee-ah-tuh) Louise Haverdink entered the world three months later, an incredible baby girl roughly the same size as her older sister when Naomi was born, with about 10x the hair.
Two days later, she entered Naomi’s life.
In a video sent to the family group chat of their first introduction, my sister held Beate in her right arm, while Naomi sat on her left knee. Naomi briefly tried to engage her wailing baby sister, but sank into my sister’s left side, confused and slightly dejected.
She rallied quickly and tried to deploy a “pat, pat” to Beate’s head with a plastic container, while my sister changed Beate’s diaper on an ottoman. Thankfully, Naomi’s aim was about six inches off, and she hit the couch with a thud.
In a lucky turn of events for Beate, her older sister graduated to nose pokes and open mouth kisses. These too have given way to gentler shows of affection: her current preferred mode is pressing her cheek to the side of Beate’s legs or head, looking to the nearest parent for approval.
But every once in a while, Naomi will break out a “pat, pat” for her little sister. And having learned from her mom, she’ll give two gentle touches to the top of Beate’s head, flashing what seems like a triumphant smile for something shared with her little sister.
Juliana Knot graduated from Calvin in 2021 with a degree in philosophy, mathematics, and German. She covers Southwest Michigan business and agriculture as a reporter for the Herald-Palladium.
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This was SO CUTE. My family has old videos where I would just pet my younger sister’s head when she was a baby/toddler, and I treasure them so. I’m sure Naomi will get a kick out of this story too when she’s older!