Big Brother

Laken has been such an incredible big brother!

- absolutely loves to look at Carter

- laughs when Carter looks at him

- likes to help push Carter in his swing

- is very gentle with him

- likes to give kisses to Carter

- understands that when Carter's eating, mom can't do much else

- shares his blankets with Carter (which is a big deal because he LOVES his blankets)

- runs to Carter when he hears him cry

But even though he's such a good big brother, he still has moments when he doesn't know how to react to something.

- When Carter is sleeping, Laken loves to look at him and be near him. But when he touches Carter, Carter gets startled and Laken doesn't know how to react to that. So he backs away and cries. He thinks he did something bad so we're trying to teach him that Carter is okay and does the same thing when mom or dad touches him.

- When Carter cries really hard, it stresses out Laken and he also starts crying.

And then, of course, there are the times when he just wants his own attention.

- Sometimes when we're holding Carter he'll say "baby" and point to the swing. That means he wants us to put the baby down and spend some time with him.

- He'll climb onto my lap when I'm holding or feeding Carter. I usually let him so he doesn't feel left out.

- A lot of times he'll ask me for something (more juice or to read a book) and Jared will offer to do it so I can relax. But if I'm not feeding Carter, I'll do whatever I can for Laken to make sure he is getting his attention from mom.

I've been so impressed with the how Laken is doing with having a new little brother in the house. He seems to be adjusting well to it and I hope he continues doing well and that he never feels any less loved. I hope I can make special time to spend just with him each day and come up with fun new things for us to do together.

The Super Duper Big Brother (sorry about the closed eyes)