Big Sister

We are often asked how Kendra is doing with the adjustment of having a new baby around.  He's been home with us for four weeks now, and I've been pretty impressed with how she's been taking things in stride.

If we're at home and he starts crying, she'll find his pacifier and give it to him.  She's also been known to lovingly attempt to soothe him by caressing his head or leaning over and saying, "Shhh."  Although in this category my favorite was yesterday in the car when he was getting a bit worked up (actually crying harder than we've ever heard him cry before, but what can you do about it while driving...) and she turned to him saying over and over in a very sweet soothing voice, "It's okay, it's okay.  Shhhhhhhhh.  It's okay, it's okay."

She'll also offer him her toys any time she thinks it's necessary.  Sometimes it seems like she just feels like sharing (let's see how well that concept holds up when he's grabbing for the toys...), or she thinks he's bored, or he fusses a little.  It's pretty sweet to walk into a room and find something like this:

She often proudly offers him her most prized and beloved possessions like her lamb or her new cars (she'll line them up beside him).

And her eagerness to help doesn't end there.  She also is very responsive to fetching his things for him when I ask.  So when I've got my hands tied nursing or changing his diaper and I realize I need something, she's pretty reliable to grab it and bring it to me.  She actually does a lot that has made the transition a lot easier than I thought it'd be.

She's also eager to hold him.  Many times a day she spots him and just shouts, "HOLD!" and throws her arms out for the task.  So this happens a lot around here:

I was worried at first about this because she didn't quite understand the concept of it not being a good time to stop what I'm doing and help her hold him.  However, I quickly learned that while she is very interested in holding him often, she's not interested in doing it for long periods of time.  So it's okay if he's fussing because he NEEDS to eat and she wants to hold him because it all takes less than 20 seconds for her to sit down, get him on her lap and her to announce that she's done before sometimes almost just chucking him back at me.

So she's doing pretty well with it. We're getting into the swing of being a 4-member family, slowly but surely.