I have been noticing lately that T is very attuned to people entering the house. He hears the garage door go up and he drops whatever he is doing and crawls over to the stairs to investigate who might be coming to see him. Today I walked him over to the top of the stairs to watch Chris come in the door, and when he saw his Daddy he just about jumped out of my arms, did a little wiggle leg dance, and said, "HIIII!" I swear, he actually said hi, and Chris heard it too. I wrote it off as a coincidence until later when I got back from my run, walked in the house and met my little T at the top of the stairs. He greeted me this time with an exuberant, "HIII!" By gum, I think my baby has become the official family greeter. I think I will try to get it on video tomorrow when Chris comes home because it's just the sweetest thing I have ever heard.
We had E's preschool class this morning, and M and T went to the sibling care room together. The teacher said T was a little sad at first, but M played with him and kept him company until he cheered up. She said she was so impressed with how well M took care of his little brother.
Speaking of caring about brothers: tonight Chris got out some of the Batman Legos that have been put away for a while. M was still in the tub so E had the toy all to himself (as well as his Mom and Dad). He played (very happily) for about five minutes and then jumped up saying, "I have to go tell M about the Batman Legos!" I tried to convince him that he could just play with us for a little while longer, but he was adamant, "No! I have to go tell M! He will want to play!" He returned with a naked (and dripping wet) M in tow, and the exuberant look on their faces is something I hope I will be able to remember for the rest of my life. It was such a simple thing to get that box of toys out, but it made them genuinely happy.
We talked about The Five Love Languages of Children (by Gary Chapman) today at E's preschool (in the mom room), and as I was sitting there watching my little boys play gleefully with their beloved Batman Legos, the lecture today started making a lot more sense. According to the book on which the lecturer based her information, there are five different ways adults can make a child feel loved: touch (hugs), quality time, words of affirmation, gifts, and acts of service. The lecturer advised us to try to identify our child's primary love language and try to use that language every day to show our kids we love them (although the others are important to use also), so that they may be more receptive to our guidance. I haven't identified E's language yet (he's a very introspective little guy), but I think M may need a combination of words of affirmation and quality time with a large dose of touch thrown in there. We have noticed in the past that the times when we have trouble with managing M are the same times when we aren't giving M the quality time he desperately desires - which leads me to believe that there may be something to this love language theory. As Chris and I were sitting in the boys' room tonight I could see we were giving M and E quality time and a "gift" (even though it wasn't a brand new gift - it was still a gift in their eyes), and they were loving it. I am intrigued by this and think I may have to mosey over to amazon.com and order a copy of the book for myself. I will have to come back to this topic when I have done a little more research.
We had E's preschool class this morning, and M and T went to the sibling care room together. The teacher said T was a little sad at first, but M played with him and kept him company until he cheered up. She said she was so impressed with how well M took care of his little brother.
Speaking of caring about brothers: tonight Chris got out some of the Batman Legos that have been put away for a while. M was still in the tub so E had the toy all to himself (as well as his Mom and Dad). He played (very happily) for about five minutes and then jumped up saying, "I have to go tell M about the Batman Legos!" I tried to convince him that he could just play with us for a little while longer, but he was adamant, "No! I have to go tell M! He will want to play!" He returned with a naked (and dripping wet) M in tow, and the exuberant look on their faces is something I hope I will be able to remember for the rest of my life. It was such a simple thing to get that box of toys out, but it made them genuinely happy.
We talked about The Five Love Languages of Children (by Gary Chapman) today at E's preschool (in the mom room), and as I was sitting there watching my little boys play gleefully with their beloved Batman Legos, the lecture today started making a lot more sense. According to the book on which the lecturer based her information, there are five different ways adults can make a child feel loved: touch (hugs), quality time, words of affirmation, gifts, and acts of service. The lecturer advised us to try to identify our child's primary love language and try to use that language every day to show our kids we love them (although the others are important to use also), so that they may be more receptive to our guidance. I haven't identified E's language yet (he's a very introspective little guy), but I think M may need a combination of words of affirmation and quality time with a large dose of touch thrown in there. We have noticed in the past that the times when we have trouble with managing M are the same times when we aren't giving M the quality time he desperately desires - which leads me to believe that there may be something to this love language theory. As Chris and I were sitting in the boys' room tonight I could see we were giving M and E quality time and a "gift" (even though it wasn't a brand new gift - it was still a gift in their eyes), and they were loving it. I am intrigued by this and think I may have to mosey over to amazon.com and order a copy of the book for myself. I will have to come back to this topic when I have done a little more research.
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