Interactions

When Lauren was first born, Brenden was amazed. He wanted to see her toes and help feed her for a minute or two. He even shared toys without being asked. Then the initial "newness" wore off and he was just plain annoyed. Not in any physical way, just "I want to do what I want to do and I want to do it NOW!" Wait for Lauren to eat so that mommy can play? Unacceptable. Wait for mommy to change Lauren's diaper before he gets his chocolate milk? I don't think so.

Eventually his disgust turned into sighs, then back to tantrums, then back again. (A few timeouts helped change his attitude, at least for a little while.) I was worried he would never get used to the idea of her being in our house. Luckily, it seems how he looks at her is changing, at least for the time being.

Kisses!

In the past few weeks he has willingly played with her, which has not happened...ever. He may have looked at her when she was little but he became completely uninterested long before she could "play" back. While we were visiting Mike in the hospital (something I didn't write about here because I'm waiting for his full recovery...IT WILL HAPPEN...before I bore you with a post) he laid down on the extra bed next to her and let her grab at his ears while he giggled like crazy. I sat there with my mouth wide open, wondering why no one else was as amazed as I was at the miracle happening in front of me. I forgot that not everyone spends ALL day with then so they have no idea this is out of the ordinary. It seemed like a big turning point to me.

Since then he takes a little time out of his day to say hello to her. He'll wander by her exersaucer while she plays, stopping for a minute to bat at some of her toys and laugh at her big grin. (She spends time in it every day. She wants to stand up all the time and my arms get tired.) The other day I was feeding her and he asked to help. I still held onto the spoon but he guided it perfectly. On top of that, he even made the "ahhhh" noise, mouth wide open. It was adorable! And that's not the only thing he's tried to feed her. I went to get her bottle from the kitchen and left the puffs I had just purchased next to her. I heard him yell, "I'm feeding the baby!" from the kitchen and ran in immediately. He had stuffed at least 5 in her mouth, none of which would dissolve. After I dug them all out, I thanked him for helping and then showed him how it was done. Nice thought, though!

He likes to chat with her when I'm not in the room and then tell me what he did. He'll "boop" her check, which is softly poking at her with one finger while saying "boop", and then laugh gleefully as he tells me what he did and how she smiled. He'll lean against the side of the highchair and listen to her babble. I asked him what she was saying one time and he said, "BAHHH!" Which was, well, exactly what she said. Ha! If she's upset he'll find her pacifier for me, before I've even looked for it, and tell me she needs it while shoving it into her mouth. It's a nice shove, but a shove nonetheless.

My favorite thing so far was the day that he ran around on his hands and knees pretending to be a horse while Lauren rode on his back. I held onto her, of course, and she loved it! I'm not sure how long it will be until she can really move and chase him on her own. I know she's ready to move, but I'm not sure I'm ready to chase two kids!

They're gonna be trouble!