The New Big Brother

Tonight was Family Night in honor of David--a perfect opportunity to write a blog post about this special little guy.

Oh, did I say "little?" I mean, "big guy." See, that's the thing. One minute David is saying he's a baby and wanting to be carried, and the next minute he's declaring that he's going to do something "BY MYSELF." Such a common scenario, so I've been told, when a new baby enters a family and the former littlest one suddenly becomes a big brother.

I love, love, love the way David acts towards Tobin. David will randomly go over to Tobin and say, "Hi, Tobin!" Or if Tobin is crying..."It's OK, Tobin." But David isn't usually content to simply talk to Tobin; he wants to touch him, too. Sometimes David will hold his hand (whether or not Tobin is a willing partner in this hand-holding depends on whether he's asleep or awake!). Sometimes David will pat or rub Tobin's head. Recently David had this pattern of touching Tobin that consisted of briefly touching each of Tobin's ears, then each of his cheeks, and I forget exactly what else David touched...but it was almost like David was checking to make sure Tobin had all the required parts of his face! Time for roll call. :)

David, being a typical two year-old boy, is not exactly gentle with Tobin all the time. His pats on the head can be a little too rough; and when he wants to hold Tobin's hand, he doesn't really consider whether or not Tobin wants that. :) But unless David is doing something really damaging, I usually let him go ahead and be himself around Tobin. I don't want David to ever feel like Tobin is off-limits...or, even worse, to feel like he always gets in trouble because of his relationship with Tobin. I don't want David to always hear "no" when he approaches Tobin. It was interesting to read on another blog recently that, in another family with 3 children, the baby adores her brother, the middle child, even though that boy is sometimes a little too "rough" with her. Maybe babies aren't quite as fragile as we sometimes think. In any case, I want to encourage David's friendliness to Tobin, not discourage him from showing love.

Other things about David that stand out to me at this stage of his life:
~ he continues to ask, almost daily, "Can he (Tobin) walk yet?"
~ he asks, "Can I hold him (Tobin)?"...invariably he asks this when I'm nursing Tobin, and I have to explain that no, he can't hold Tobin right then, but in a little while he can
~ he still says that he has a baby in his tummy, and he likes to lift his shirt to show us his baby Tobin ("like your baby, Mommy!")
~ he often starts his conversations with, "Do you know what?" and then goes on to say whatever is on his mind
~ if he sees his grandma or grandpa heading towards the door to leave, he runs after them and says, "Let me hug you!"
~ yesterday morning, he woke up and came into my room where I was nursing Tobin...then David told me, "I said, 'God, will you please be in my bed?' and God said, 'Yes'!"

~ David patting Tobin's head...after this, David got a book and pretended to read to Tobin, although all his words sounded like "gully, gully, gully, gully"...that's how he "reads" these days :)
~ David's version of multi-tasking: sucking his thumb while holding Tobin's hand
~ a Family Night game of Candyland after our supper of macaroni and cheese...David, as the honored guest, got to pick the food and the activity...David kept getting stuck on the squares in Candyland where you get stuck (I forget what they're called at the moment), so he came in last place...but he was still a happy camper, simply glad to be with family and play a game together :)