John and Helen

John loves being a big brother. And he loves Helen. He really does! Given his rambunctious personality, I keep expecting him to get bored with her, but he really hasn't. Okay, he is sometimes a bit over-enthusiastic in touching her, but he adores her and wants to do the right thing.



Proud big brother (Helen is 1 day old).


In the morning when he wakes up, she is the first person that he goes looking for. He will breeze right past Jeremy or I now as he seeks his sister out for a good-morning kiss. If he can't find her, he gets very peeved with us.

John crawled into our bed with Helen (1 week old) and kicked us out.

Today I had her sitting up, in her carseat carrier, by the table as we ate breakfast. John was sitting at the table on a barstool, for a bit of extra height. In the midst of his meal, he hopped up, dragged the stool away, and pulled up a regular chair. I asked him why. "Helen wants to see me better. I need to be lower."



John is all wet because he climbed right in the tub to help with Helen's bath. (2-15-2011) 



He gets very upset when Helen cries. Of course, I can hear her, but can't always attend to her as quickly as she (or he) might like. John will come running up to me saying, "Helen is crying. You need to feed her right now!" (Actually, all the kids have learned this idea - if the baby is crying, she must be hungry. That makes it Mom's problem, so fix it!)

Sometimes I feel like he completely ignores everything I say to him, but today he proved that at least he is listening (even if never acknowledging). He announced proudly to me: "I gave Helen a kiss on her cheek...but it was a gentle kiss! I didn't leave any slobber on her - see?"

Helen is 6 days old.