A Brother's Love

Henry has been really sweet with Maggie, he's really interested in everything she does, where she is, and he's done a great job growing into his big brother role. Henry has been really sensitive to her cry since she came home, but over the past few weeks he has grown more used to it. He'll run to her when she cries and say "don't be sad Maggie." He also likes to give her the paci, and say "here's your paci, open wide!" He'll turn on her swing and bouncy seat when she starts to fuss, or ask if he can do it. He helps me with her diaper, getting out a new diaper and handing me the cream. He's even tried shushing her when she has her diaper changed. Some more things Henry has said and done to show his love for Maggie:

Henry loves to lie in the crib with Maggie. He shows her the stuffed animals that are in there that he got as a present for her at the hospital, and says "here's some buddies for you".

He gets really close to her face and says sweetly, "hiiiiiiii Maggie Jane!" "hi sweetheart"

She makes a great station to build your trains around

And Maggie plays until she just falls asleep in the middle of the living room

"I love Maggie." "I need my Maggie." "look at the tiny fingers! Look at the tiny mouth!"

She definitely reacts to his voice, follows it around, raises her eyebrows when she hears his voice.

He will occasionally hold her, and does such a great job when he does. He even asked if she could sleep with him.

Maggie gets lots of kisses from Henry too, of course!

He rubs her head, touches her hair, and occasionally lets her give a "baby hug" by placing his finger in her hand so she can squeeze, but he says that "Maggie no like to give a baby hug" because it is hard for him to get his finger in the right spot in his hand. When I nurse Maggie, and when I finish, Henry says "Maggie's all done feeding Mommy." Maggie is always feeding Mommy, and we're not sure if he's confused about what is going on or also just mixing up the sentence construction.

It hasn't always been perfect, and Henry has had to make some transitions, but he is learning and doing really well with the changes and growth of our family. He does say "I want to bat New Baby" and talks about poking her eyes, but he knows he's not supposed to do either of those things and that we have to protect and take care of Maggie. We're working on it, of course. But we're so proud of him and how he has reacted to Maggie and the love between them~!