Sand fun, sibling envy, etc...

It's definitely summer here! A few weeks ago, on a day Michael had off, we all went to the park. Michael watched Oliver (who was sleeping in his carseat) while I played with Drew in the sand box. Michael preferred not to join us - he has some deep rooted issues with sandboxes (mostly involving cats and their toileting preferences). I however, was the coolest parent in the sandbox. While other parents stood by (probably also thinking about cats), I dug right in and showed Drew and several other children how to dig for the damp sand to make castles.

Sibling envy:

Many of the parenting books/articles I read about bringing a new sibling home mentioned that some envy of the new baby is likely to occur. The attention, toys, etc... The cool things a new baby has. Not the tiny baby bathtub when you're used to a bath in the adult tub with lots of space and water and toys. Drew one night, absolutely insisted that he wanted a bath in Ollie's baby tub. He barely fit. "Really?" I thought, "of all the things to envy, you want to have a bath in Ollie's tub?". He took 2 baths in the baby tub, but is now back to the regular tub.

Oliver is too little for the strollers we have so whenever we go out for a walk he rides in the "baby pocket" (that's what Drew calls my Moby wrap, "pocket" - like a kangaroo pocket/pouch). Here's a plug for Moby wraps for those readers who may be having little ones soon - I think they're awesome. Ollie loves it and Drew did too (it's like being back in the womb). They're the most comfortable type of carrier I've used. Anyway, one day Drew got upset because he wanted to ride in the pocket and I told him he was too big. To placate him, we made a make-shift carrier out of a ring sling I have and put his baby doll inside. It was too cute.

How you know you're doing ok...

Sometimes in life, there are little moments that let you know, "hey, my child actually listens to me and he's going to turn out ok". We were playing in the living room and I was not really watching Drew (I was probably folding laundry). He got up and went into the kitchen; I heard him pushing a chair up to the counter. "Oh great", I thought, "are all the knives and breakable things out of his reach?" I called in my "you better not be getting into trouble voice" - "Drew, what are you doing?". "get a paper towel" he said "Drew messy". He was getting a paper towel because he had spilled a little of his chocolate milk (not much, it was in a sippy cup) on the carpet in the living room and I hadn't noticed. It made me feel happy that he wanted to clean up after himself and reminded me that he learns things I don't directly teach him just by watching me.

And now a few pictures of my sweet little Oliver. He's doing well - smiling lots and making those adorable cooing sounds. I love that just seeing our faces and hearing our voices can make him smile.