Brother and Sister

The first thing Drew said on Sunday morning (the day after visiting the fire station) was, "Where is my fire engine?" While Drew enjoyed his morning cup of milk, he put on his new fire helmet and pushed around his fire engine. Saturday night we acquiesced to his request for his fire engine pajamas at bedtime. For the next few days EVERYTHING is going to revolve around fire fighting!!Drew has consistently been interested in Kate, but yesterday for the first time he asked to hold her. We were a bit surprised at his request and we're not sure if all the adults asking to hold her gave him the idea. Jana and I happily agreed to help him hold her for the first time. We've talked a lot with him about being gentle with her and how he needs to support her head, and now we put it to the test. Drew loved holding Kate! He did a great job, although Jana and I were pretty nervous the whole time (see Jana hovering with her hands close!!).

This marked the end of the holding session as Kate started to flop over a bit. Drew started to get distracted by us and his attention left supporting Kate. Both Drew and Kate enjoyed the experience, so we weren't surprised when today Drew asked again if he could hold Kate.

This time we decided to put both Kate and Drew in Jana's lap to supervise the process of Drew holding Kate a little more closely. Right away Drew got her in his arms and gently kissed her head! It was so sweet!

Drew did an excellent job with Kate. He held her hand ,he gently touched her head and her face, and he gave her hugs and kisses. We are so impressed by how well he does with Kate. His interactions with her are different than with anyone else, but he's done a great job of picking up how to interact with a baby. Below are a few pictures of Drew holding Kate.

Jana and I were beside ourselves with excitement watching our children interact. Kate was alert and focused on Drew, and Drew never stopped being gentle and caring with Kate. In the picture below he is making sure that her bib is off her face. Kate had just finished eating, and Drew was fascinated because "Baby Kate has milk in her mouth. I see milk in there."

I also took some video of Drew holding Kate. As you'll notice, we've been doing lots of positive reinforcement of Drew whenever he positively interacts with Kate. Jana does a pretty good job of translating for us, so everything that Drew says is fairly clear.

We had another weight check today for Kate and she is starting to fill out. Yay!!! She weighed a hefty 6 pounds 14 ounces, which is an impressive 13 ounce weight gain in the past week. Our efforts are paying off! We might be imagining it, but Jana and I think Kate's cheeks are filling out a little bit and we've noticed a little bit more bulk in her belly. Kate is still not a very good nurser, so Jana and I have been working hard at finger feeding. Every meal Kate nurses for a while and then gets topped off with the finger feeder. We keep waiting for the day that nursing clicks for Kate and she starts eating like a champ. It took a little while with Drew too, so we're trying to be patient!