World's Best Brother

Even though we had a pretty rocky start, with sickness and moodiness, I'm so happy and proud with the way Ben has adjusted to Sam's presence. Even in the very beginning he never took his negative feelings out on Sam. Ben has loved him right from the start.

At first he liked helping us wash out the bottles, but that ended pretty quickly. However, he hugs and kisses Sam all the time, tells him, "It'll be okay, Sam," when he's crying and introduces Sam to his various toys. Naturally there are still times when he feels jealous and tells us to put Sam down and play with him. I've tried to explain to Ben that after he wakes up from his nap and Sam's still sleeping, that's the time I can give him my full attention. He hasn't quite grasped that concept yet, though, and always asks to watch TV during that time. Then later he gets mad when I can't play trains because I have to feed Sam. We're working on it.

The cutest thing happened a few weekends ago, when we took them both to the YMCA nursery for the first time. Apparently the entire time they were in there Ben was protecting Sam and telling the other kids not to touch him. He's looking out for his little brother.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Boy

The other day Ben asked to use the camera. I thought the results were rather interesting. I could see things from his point of view.

There were a lot of pictures of the kitchen cabinets:

And a lot of the lower half of my body:

Creations with blocks:

I think this one's kind of nice:

But the best one is the self portrait:

Big and Tall store, here we come!

After Ben was born I wanted to start a Christmas tradition with him. A lot of people get a new pair of pajamas every year, but that was too typical and I wanted to do something more meaningful to me. So I decided to buy him a new pair of Converse shoes every year. I always buy them a little large, because his feet grow so quickly. So far he hasn't made it through an entire year with his Christmas shoes. Usually he doesn't even make it through the summer. Here are this year's shoes:

That's MY foot. He's three years old and his shoes are almost as long as my foot! He's going to be bigger than I am by the time he's nine.

Such a sucker

Ben: Can I watch Backyardigans?

Heath: No.

Ben: But if you don't let me watch I'll be sad. If you do let me watch I'll be happy.

Me: Ben, that's emotional blackmail.

Heath: Ben, you made a reasoned argument without whining. You can watch Backyardigans.

Comparisons

I suppose this is a problem all parents of two or more children have, but I'm having a tough time talking about Sam without comparing him to Ben. Sam dislikes wet diapers; Ben never minded. Sam hates the car seat and often screams on car trips; Ben always fell asleep. Sam weighs 12 lbs at two months; Ben weighed 16.

It's almost impossible not to compare. Ben's the only other infant I've had prolonged exposure to, so it feels natural to think about his milestones as Sam reaches them himself. I don't think any of it is judgemental, but it doesn't seem like a good habit. I don't see myself becoming the, "Why can't you be more like your brother?" mom, but you never exactly know what kind of parent you'll turn out to be.

Part of the reason it's so hard not to compare them is because I can already tell they're different. It's amazing to me that two kids from the same parents could be so different. Obviously I know it's true because my brothers and I are all different in significant ways. But it seems stranger when it's your own children. However, it's been so fun to watch the mix of Heath and me emerge in Ben. It'll be interesting to see what our second mixture is like.

But look at these pictures:

Ben at three months

Sam at almost three months

Same outfit, same chair, same withering stare. They look like brothers.

Snow

Yes, that is the Christmas tree.

Sam's first time in snow!

This boy won't take a morning nap in his crib, but he'll sleep 

just fine being pulled around the yard in 25 degree weather.

Ben wasn't very interested in sledding or snow angels,

but he loved pelting Daddy with snow balls!

Ben and Avery dancing

This video is a few months old, but I just cleaned a ton of videos off my phone, including this one. It's too cute not to share:

Growth Chart

Sam got this bear for Christmas and I decided to take a picture of him with it every month, to see his growth.

One Month - 12/14/11:

Two months - 1/14/12:

All about Sam

Sam had his two month check up last week.

Weight: 12 lbs. 12 oz. - 60th percentile
Height: 23 1/4 inches - 50th percentile
Head circumference: 39 cm. - 50th percentile

I can't believe he's two months old. It doesn't seem possible he's that old, but it also feels like we've been doing this forever. He had his first immunizations and he was not happy with the experience. He ran a little fever afterward (which is normal) and was a pretty grumpy guy the rest of the day (which is also normal after shots, but not normal for him). Luckily both the fever and the grumpiness vanished by the next day.

We are slowly learning more about Sam's personality. So far he's a fairly serious guy. He's been smiling for a few weeks now, but they're rare, so I haven't been able to capture one on camera. Usually he just stares at you like he's sizing you up. Unless he's tired, hungry or wet he's pretty calm. Not a lot of fussiness for no discernible reason. And the sleeping! Let me tell you about the sleeping! I've put off writing about it, because I feel superstitious and DO NOT want to jinx it, but Sam is an awesome sleeper. He usually only wakes up once or twice a night and he's given us a solid seven hours of sleep on more than one occasion. In addition, all on his own he fell into the routine of taking a long afternoon nap which coincides with his brother's. It's honestly more than I dreamed possible because Ben was such a horrible sleeper for so long. Now, that's not to say I'm not tired. After all, I do have a three year old who's still not the best sleeper and almost always wakes up once or twice a night, and a husband who snores. But I am so, so, so grateful that Sam sleeps well. And I try to remember that on the nights he doesn't sleep so well.

So Sammy's doing great! He rolled over for the first time at 31 days old - no joke! I wouldn't have believed it if I wasn't right there, but all three of us witnessed it. It was another few weeks before he did it again, but he can roll from his stomach to his back pretty reliably now. He's had a cold for the last week and he finally seems to be on the upswing. I'm glad, because baby coughs are so sad.

Here are some recent pictures:

Oops

Scene: Ben is trying to build a train track out into the air without supports. Unsurprisingly, it didn't work.

Ben: My track fell apart! That was crappy.

Me: What?!