Brotherly Love

I know I have mentioned before how much Peyton adores her big brother. She gets excited when she gets to see him at the end of the day at school and she is excited to see him in the morning when he greets her in her crib but I don't think I have mentioned how much Austen loves his sister. Here are just a few instances of him showing his brotherly love:

• Peyton recently went through a brief period where she didn't want to sit in her car seat and face backward. She wanted to see what all the rest of us were looking at so she would cry. This incessant crying wouldn't bother Austen in the least even though it drove Tom and I mad. Austen would just look at his sister and hold her hand if he could (depends which car we had) and say "It's okay, Peyton, your brother's here. I'm not going to leave you." The empathy he had for her was amazing and shows the depth of our sensitive soul.

•Now that Peyton is crawling, Austen, thinks she is more fun. He asks me every day when we get home from school if Peyton can play in his room. After I scour Austen's room for small hazardous parts, I put her down and they play. Sometimes together, sometimes side by side but Austen is always looking out for her. He tells me when he thinks something is too sharp for her or when she is going to bump her head or when she is close to knocking over his humidifier and dumping the water everywhere.

•He tells us too when he hears her crying. One morning our monitor was turned off and Austen kept saying that Peyton was crying. We didn't know the monitor was off so we thought he was making it up until her crying grew louder and we heard her. Now, he doesn't always tell the truth about hearing her because he wants her to be awake when he is.

•Austen also likes to help feed her, entertain her when she is getting changed and push her in her stroller.

So far he is a great big brother and proud to be one too!