Brotherly Love

During the last weeks of my pregnancy, Evan started waking in the middle of the night to come to our room. He would crawl in to the bed, climb to the middle, and snuggle in as close to me as he could get. Maybe he could sense that our time together just the two of us was coming to an end, and he wanted to squeeze in as many snuggles as he could.

Our first night home from the hospital, he again woke up and came to our bed, only to find his spot occupied by Wes. I could see his little lip begin to quiver at the thought of being displaced. I decided there was room for one more. So I moved Wes to my other side, let Evan crawl in the middle, and in a very full bed, we spent our first night home as a family.

I wondered though, if to Evan, Wes was nothing but an intruder. Someone who was taking away his spot in bed, his place on Mommy's lap, his play time with Dad. I made every effort to tell Evan how much we loved him, and to do as many of his normal routines with him as I could. I also tried to explain to him how wonderful it was to have a brother- how he had a friend for life, and how much fun they would have together.

But the fact is, that Wes does a lot of sleeping and eating and a little crying, and not much else. I didn't know if Evan would understand that someday he would be more fun for him. But I think he does. Slowly, he is warming up to Wes. He sings him songs to calm him down when he is crying (often his ABC's at the top of his lungs.) If this doesn't work, he will tell me "You need burp baby Wes, Mommy" or, "Oh, Mommy-Baby Wes little bit hungry. He need nurse now."

I have found him bent over Wes' car seat, rocking him slowly and saying "I know, Wessy. I know." Or my favorite, "Just be happy, Wes. You just be happy." He excitedly tells me that Wes is taking naps so he can get bigger and play Duplos with him.

The other day I set Wes in Evan's bed so I could change Evan's diaper. As soon as he had his new diaper on, Evan ran over to the bed, crawled up to Wes, and tucked him in. He told me, "You go away Mommy. I cuddle Wes in my big boy bed." I went and got the camera.

Evan gave Wes kisses. He "shushed" him if he started to fuss. And he asked a million times for me to leave so they could take a nap together. I told him that Wes was too little to sleep in his big boy bed right now, but that someday they could take a nap together.

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.


(This is Evan "shushing" Wes. You can also see his black eye that he got when he fell down the stairs if you look closely on the right side of the picture. My poor boy!)