A Place Beside Mama

For parents & caregivers

Inside this story

Ivy's bedtime ritual is to sit tucked under Mama's arm on the sofa and turn the pages of the story. When baby Sol arrives, Ivy adores him, especially his little sneezes. But Sol feeds at bedtime and his pillow now fills Ivy's spot. A heavy feeling grows until one night Ivy stays in the bathroom and says she doesn't want a story. When Mama asks without blame whether she is cross, Ivy checks her own feelings. She realizes she still likes Sol and also misses her place and her mother, and she names it as 'two feelings.' Mama thanks her, says she misses Ivy too, and is honest that Sol's bedtime milk will continue. Ivy proposes her own plan: after Sol's milk, Papa takes him for a burp walk and Mama reads just to her. The parents agree. Ivy waits, still finding it a little hard, then gets her place back while Papa hums Sol down the hall. Her feelings are accepted rather than fixed, baby care stays with the adults, and the heavy feeling is smaller but not magically gone. There is no lecture or moral summary.