One of the neat things about having a baby in the house again is seeing the nurturing coming from the big brothers. Jakeb, the biggest of the big ones, is especially sweet. One day last week or so we were sitting in Nolan's room after he woke up from a (brief) nap and Jakeb asked to hold him. As he started to take him he remembered he needed to wash his hands and ran off. He came back and picked him up out of his crib...standing to hold him is something we are letting him do here and there under strict instructions to NOT do unless with us. So he carefully picked him up and walked over to his rocking chair and sat holding him. And I sat on the floor watching the 2 of them...my almost 10 year old and my 2 month old. My oldest and youngest....watching him with Nolan is just cool. He is careful and sweet and amazed by him. We call him Daddy Jake or Daddy 2.0...he is just good. Nolan was looking at Jakeb and smiling and Jakeb giggled "He's smiling at me...look at him smile" He (Jakeb) talks to him in the baby voice we all get and he gets it. The baby-ness. Nolan fusses and he has a barrage of people around him to pick him up or pop a paci in his mouth. Jakeb often responds faster than I do and he responds as if it was second nature...he just does it.
I can't wait to see how their bond grows, how Nolan at 2 looks up to his almost 12 year old brother...or at 4 and 14. Wow. My first thought about having a baby and a 9 year old was that it was like starting over and it is but oh my how neat it is. Watching this big boy with this little baby is just...sweet.
This past Friday I ran Zachary to a neighbors house just down the road...as in in our neighborhood about 8 houses down. It was cold and I am not ok with him walking down there alone just yet (our 'hood is very hilly and people make me nervous driving). Nolan was asleep and it was going to take me 2 min so I told Jakeb he was on baby duty--ie pop the paci in his mouth-- but most likely he wouldn't need to do a thing before I got back. Of course Nolan woke up while I was gone--my 2 min ended up being more like 7. I came in to find Nolan laying in his crib happily chatting away to his big bro. Jakeb who was calling a friend when Nolan started crying told his friend he had to go to deal with his baby brother. {relayed back to me by Jakeb of course} He then proceeded to tell me that he in fact picked Nolan up and got to the top of the stairs to bring him down (EEK!) and realized that was probably not a very good idea so he laid him back down in his bed. Smart, careful boy. While I certainly don't think a 9 year old is ok to babysit for any length of time it's amazing how careful and thoughtful he is. Watching him with the baby is fabulous and I am so glad we are getting the chance to do so.
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