A Great Big Brother...

In the beginning I was very concerned about having a second child. Carter was extremely clingy, always wanted to snuggle and was very demanding of my attention. He would get jealous when I held any other child. He would immediately climb on my lap and try to steal my attention. I don't know how but it turns out he is a great big brother to Langston. Maybe he outgrew the clinginess, maybe we prepared him for having a sibling. He is always so patient when Lanie needs to be taken care of, having no problem waiting for me to get his milk, get him a snack or one on one playtime with me. If Lanie is crying he will tell her in a sweet voice that "it is okay... Mommy will be right back" (if I leave the room), or "we will be home soon" (if she is crying in the car). He will stop her swing and give her back her pacifier a gazillion times without any prompting from me, whether she is crying or not. He will stand in front of her swing for long periods of time and try to make her laugh all the while laughing back at her. He finds her reactions and facial expressions very amusing. If she is upset he will try to tell me what could be wrong... She is tired, she is hungry. The other day Lanie was on her exercise mat and started to fuss. I had a few things left to pick up in the living room and said out loud, It's okay Lanie I am almost done then I will feed you. A couple seconds later I turn around and in that short amount of time Carter grabbed a bottle off the counter and had just put it in her mouth to feed her. I stopped him in enough time because the bottle had been on the counter an hour and was now bad. I was so impressed with the love and care he gives her every day. He really loves her and I know because he tells me He loves her on a daily basis. He will say, Mommy I love Lanie. Just a couple weeks ago I was dropping Lanie off with my Grammy and keeping Carter with me so I could get some things done in the house. Carter got very upset about the fact I was leaving Lanie with Grammy. He kept telling me no, he wants Lanie to come home with us and he did not want me to leave her with Grammy. I asked him why and he tells me "because I like her" "when she gets bigger she will play with me." He thought she was staying for good. Then when Craig and I had date night. I was planning to bring Carter to Grammy Dino and Lanie to my Grammy but Carter kept insisting he wanted to go to Grammy's house WITH Lanie. Before Lanie was born a friend said to me that it is the best to see how much her kids love each other and watch them be nice to each other. I must agree, I love watching Carter be so attentive and caring with Lanie and I love watching Lanie find Carter so amusing. Carter really is a great big brother... Better than I expected in the beginning. I have one great kid!