Ambling Rileys: The life of the second child...

...is decidedly less peaceful than the first. I remember hours of holding Andrew while he slept. We just held him and rocked him all day! Poor Ben, he can barely get a nap in without his big brother making amazing amounts of noise or ~~assaulting him~~ aggressively loving on him! I've lost count of how many times I've said "Andrew, he's sleeping, please don't grab his feet/poke his eyes/shout at him." Don't get me wrong, Andrew adores Ben. We've been so lucky so far that he's taken so well to this whole Big Brother thing. But he loves him in a rough and tumble and very noisy three-year-old way. He loves to touch him - he marvels over his tiny feet and hands, while grabbing/pulling on said tiny feet and hands. He loves to poke his eyes while he's sleeping... not sure why, I guess to check if he's really asleep? He also loves to hug him, and since Ben is usually laying down, the hugs usually involve 30 lb. Andrew laying on 10 lb. Ben. And although we do hold Ben while he's sleeping it's usually on the move, chasing a toddler. He does get put down more than his brother did (which is probably a good thing), most often because Andrew's first request is "Put Ben down..."

But even though life is less peaceful these days, for both Ben and us, there are some moments that warm my heart and make it completely and totally worth the chaos. We've been trying to get smiles out of Ben since he's started social smiling. Andrew has joined right in, and I often hear him imitate us, saying "Can you smile, Ben Ben?" (He's also poking his face or using his hands to make him smile, but it's still sweet!) And more often than not, Andrew gets the biggest smiles out of Ben! It seems that the love is mutual! When Ben does smile, Andrew gets so excited and exclaims, "He smiling! He likes me!" We assure him that yes, Ben loves him, and Andrew happily replies "Oh! I love him too!" And my heart is happy because I love my sweet boys!

Poor guy can't even nap without his brother "napping" with him. I'm sure it's very restful to have someone whisper loudly in your face - "he's sleeping!"