Lotsa Love

I was horribly nervous when Lauren was born about how Brenden would react to her. Thankfully, I didn't need to worry. I kept reminding myself that I needed to savor those moments because they would not last forever. I'm still reminding myself of that because so far, my son has amazed me.

He may not be quite as excited about her as he first was, but he has never shown any kind of anger or frustration towards her. That's not to say he hasn't been a pain lately. I'm sure he's feeling the effects of having another person in the house that needs attention. I know that he doesn't like sharing his parents or his grandparents with his sister. He's screaming more, listening less, and has moments when he tells us to put the baby down or give her to someone else so that he can sit in my lap or so his dad can play golf with him.

I will take a few outbursts and some whiney behavior if it means I get to see the wonderful, sweet moments between them. He will randomly ask where "his baby" is and then go and say hello to her. "Hi baby Lauren! How are you? What are you doing?" Ridiculously adorable. There have been several times when he has shared his things, from his toys to his chocolate milk, because the baby was crying or he just wanted to share.

One day she was in her bouncy chair while I was putting clothes away. I'm not sure what Tim was doing but Lauren started crying and he asked me if I could check on her. The sentence was barely out of his mouth when Lauren quit crying. I ran in to see what had happened only to see Brenden wandering back into his playroom and a happy Lauren sucking on the pacifier he had returned to her mouth. He's so gentle with her, which is shocking after all the times I've caught him trying to tackle the dog or yank on the cat's tail.

And Lauren is already enthralled with her big brother. If he happens into her line of sight she will stare at him intently. If he talks to her you can tell she's listening. She will turn her head to follow his voice if she can't see him. I have a feeling that "Brenden" or "brother" will be one of her first words, at least a version of them.

I'm so excited to see how they are going to be with each other when Lauren can actually react to him in a way that he can understand. I can't wait until she can crawl after him and giggle at his antics. He loves that type of attention and I think she will be more than happy to follow him everywhere. That will probably be when his love for his baby sister subsides a bit. But for now...

...LOVE.