A Day in the Life

As every mother knows, there are good days and there are bad days. Most of the days in my life are good. There have surprisingly few 'bad days' since Caleb arrived. They usually occur because Ethan and Caleb's naps don't coordinate, and so my usual 2 hours of productivity are gone. Thankfully, Ethan is now a great nap taker and rarely fights sleep, and Caleb will eventually fall asleep, even if its not within the time frame that I want. Caleb is 'waking up', and instead of taking 3-4 long naps, he's now taking at least one good long nap, with a few 'mini naps' scattered throughout the day.

Caleb's starting to smile, and, oh, it is a beautiful sight. I love it when they start smiling back at you. Whenever Michael or I hold Caleb now, we're always trying to get him to smile. Its great when they start responding to you, and acting more like a person rather than a doll that eat, sleeps and poops all day. He's developing his own personality, and I know that I need to make sure that I keep Caleb's identity separate from Ethan's. A friend at church told me that she had failed to do that with her two boys who are 15 months apart. While their personalities are different, the younger one had lost himself in the older. When the older son went to college, the younger was left aimless, as if his other half was gone. I want all of my children to be close, but not to their detriment. Especially with Michael and I most likely having many children close together, we'll have to be aware of the fact that our children need to have something to call their own, whether it be a talent or a hobby or something. I think that Ethan will be more of the Alpha Male, and Caleb will be more of a follower. I'll have to make sure that Ethan doesn't overrun his brother...or 'mother hen' him too much. :)

Right now Ethan's climbing on a half-sleeping Michael. He's pointing to his feet, kissing his cheeks, and attempting to stick his finger up Daddy's nose. He's trying to pull the blanket off of Michael, and is making lots of insistent 'ma' noises, while emphatically rubbing his chest in the sign for 'please'. Caleb is nursing as I write, half asleep. Ethan and I are also listening to the thunder in the distance, even though all I see out my window is blue sky.

Today is a good day.