Brothers

At the library

I often get asked if the boys fight a lot. The question is usually accompanied by stories of older siblings who were jealous of the new addition to the family or siblings who could not share a room because the parents couldn't trust that both kids would survive the night. Thankfully, this has not been an issue AT ALL in our house. Jacob has been very protective of Alex from the beginning and now that Alex is starting to communicate more, it is clear that he adores Jacob. Often, when the four of us are going somewhere together we end up splitting up as we walk: Jacob and Daddy, Alex and Mommy for example. If this happens and one of them, say, falls and starts crying, the other one is immediately concerned. Alex can now say "Jacob" (though admittedly you might not recognize it as such with no context) and Jacob can write Alex's name more clearly than he can write his own.

Taking a break from hiking

This is not to say that they don't sometimes fight over who gets to play with a specific toy at a specific moment or who gets to drink out of Jacob's water bottle (yes, Alex has his own water bottle, he just prefers Jacob's). And while waiting for our flight back from Atlanta they started wrestling on the floor just for fun. Since then it has become a common occurrence. In fact, they stand and face each other, Jacob counts to three and then throws himself on to Alex and they both fall down giggling. Then they stand up again, face each other, Jacob says "ready?", counts to three, and Alex throws himself on to Jacob and they both fall down giggling. It is really funny to watch if you can take a deep breath and not worry about bumps and bruises. And issue the occasional reminder to stay away from the neck. But for the most part they share well, entertain each other, and look out for each other.

Don't worry Alex, we can share...climb on!

They also share a room. When Alex first came home from the hospital he was in our room. We were reluctant to move him in with Jacob because we were worried that they would wake each other up. It has happened occasionally, but more often than not they each sleep through the other's night wakings. And thankfully all of the night wakings have become infrequent . When it's time for bed we go upstairs and get pajamas on, brush teeth, and read books together. We read one book for each boy. Often Jacob picks out both books, but he's usually really good about picking a board book for Alex and more sophisticated book for himself. After we read books, I ask them each what they are going to dream about. Alex answers enthusiastically though I have no idea if he knows what I'm talking about and I certainly don't know what he's talking about. Jacob dreams about things like trains, the bottom of the bed (he sleeps on the bottom bunk of bunk beds), and whatever we happen to be doing the next day. If he's in a bad mood he tells me he's going to dream about crying and throwing fits. And then we leave and let the boys go to sleep. They don't often go to sleep right away. Sometimes we hear them playing upstairs. Sometimes they both read books quietly. Sometimes Alex cries a little bit and then it either gets quiet or I hear them playing. Always by the time we are ready to go up to bed, the boys are completely out and in their own beds. We will see what happens when Alex is no longer contained in his crib! One night, it got quiet, but then Alex started screaming and Jacob started calling for me. I was worried that Alex had flipped himself out of the crib or something, but when I got upstairs Jacob just said "Alex won't stop crying - I've tried EVERYTHING!". 

I have no illusions that they will always get along as well as they do right now, but still I think for the most part I will need to be more worried about them ganging up on me than any animosity between them. After all, Jacob can already open doors and reach pretty much anything on the counter so the possibilities are pretty much endless for their powers combined.

Jacob managed to strap himself to Alex's highchair...