Big Bro

We wouldn't have predicted it, but Leon has had the easiest time so far adjusting to the new baby.  He first showed signs of acceptance last summer when I brought home a book about being a new brother.  At the time, he was pretty resistant to new books.  When we went to the library, he would sort through all the board books and present me with a stack of books we already owned for me to check out.  When we introduced a new book at home, for the first few readings, Leon would play in the room while we read, getting closer and closer to the book each time.  By the third or fourth reading, he would finally sit down and look at the book.  But when the big brother book came in the door, he immediately plopped himself on the couch and wanted to hear it the first time we read it.  He knew this was important stuff.

At the time, Leon spent little time looking at books on his own, but he STUDIED the big brother book.  He paged through it over and over, naming everything and mumbling to himself.  He was going to learn everything about being a big brother.

But as the big day grew closer, both Ree and Michael showed much more interest in the idea of a new baby.  In fact, Leon started reverting, needing more and more cuddles from me as my belly grew increasingly larger.  By the last few days, he was practically draped on me every minute I was home, and I was starting to wonder if he wasn't trying to find a way to crawl back in the womb.

But since Natalia has arrived, Leon's desire to be a good helper and to properly fulfill big brother duties has taken over.  As soon as she came home from the hospital, he wanted to hold Natalia, although I could tell actually holding her clearly freaked him out.  Since then, he's limited himself to just giving her "cuddles," his term for bear hugs.  He has also started potty training, with no real prompting from us, and I think this is due to the fact that one of our books talks about older siblings using the potty.  More than anything, he studies everything we do and then assists as he deems necessary.

This generally involves him following behind me, "fixing" things.  Yesterday I found him mumbling to himself as he "repaired" the baby gear stashed all over our bedroom.  We had taken the toy bar off the bouncy seat and the tray off the swing since Natalia doesn't need either right now.  This was all wrong.  After he finished replacing the toy bar and tray, he looked much relieved and said something along the lines of "Done!" or "Better!"  As I tucked Natalia in tonight, I noticed a large pile of infant toys taken from various boxes and placed in the corner of her bassinet, and it was obviously the work on Leon.

Sometimes he is actually helpful.  Yesterday morning we were trying to get out the door, and I was running late and was a bit disorganized.  I had Natalia in the carrier part of her car seat and was about to leave when he reminded me that she needed a hat since it was cold out.  Good call on that one.

The thing that has surprised me the most, though, is how he has compared real life to his book.  For the first couple of days we were home, he kept running and getting me bottles and saying "New baby hungry."  It finally dawned on me that none of the books feature nursing mothers, and Leon thought I was starving his poor baby sister.  No wonder he was worried.  Such a thoughtful big brother.