Getting Ready to be a Big Brother

On Sunday, Zane decided that he wanted to hold his cousin Gavin. He was not happy until we covered his lap with a blanket and then put Gavin on top. Zane even had his arm around Gavin the whole time and was not happy when we decided that it was someone else's turn to hold Gavin. My mom turned to me and said, "You are in so much trouble." Boy don't I know! Zane wants to help with all of his younger cousins and wants to hold them and feed them. Hopefully, he will get tired of "helping" with his brother soon after he is born. If not, I will have more help than I can handle, but at least he is okay with other kids.

Monday and Tuesday, we babysat my niece Ayla. She is almost 8 months old, so she is sitting up, rolling everywhere and trying to crawl. Zane has been having fun playing with Ayla and of course telling her what she can't, and sometimes what she can, play with or chew on. I had a primary presidency meeting this morning, so we took Ayla in her carrier with us. When It was time to come home, Zane was saying "go" and trying to lift Ayla's carrier and her diaper bag. How I wish I had my camera with me. Then, he tried to lift her out of teh car and carry her in. Thankfully it was too heavy for him, or else he would have been dragging her around. Then, when I was doing laundry later, it got a little too quiet so I ran to check on things. This is what I saw:

Zane was sitting behind Ayla and pulling her back to lean on him. He thought that he was holding her. Thankfully Ayla didn't mind, and even was smiling for a while. She never cried, but Mommy thought that maybe it was time to stop "holding" Ayla. Of course, it wasn't until after I took a picture though.

At lunch, Zane decided that HE needed to feed Ayla instead of Mommy. He sat on my lap and I held the bowl so he could feed her. She wasn't really interested in the food, but Zane didn't care, he was trying to feed her anyway. When I saw the camera on the counter, I couldn't miss this opportunity and sat the camera on the edge and pushed the button, hoping to get some good pictures. Thankfully two pictures actually turned out.

It is almost a relief that Zane is so good around other babies, so maybe the transition to being a big brother will not be as hard. However, his poor brother may be smothered with love and help. Hopefully he is a strong, resilient boy.