It’s always fun to peek in on my kiddos when they are sleeping. Sometimes because it gives me a good chuckle, sometimes because it tugs at my heart strings, and sometimes just because it sets my mind at ease to see them sleeping snuggly in their rooms.
Last night as I was crawling into bed, I realized I hadn’t peeked in on them. I don’t know if I’m the only Mom out there like this, but when I realize I forgot, I just can’t shake it off… I have to go b/c sometimes this little quirky fear will rise up “What if the one night I didn’t check on them something was wrong?”
Which is why it was all the more comical, that when I opened the boys room, the first thing I saw was this.
“Oh my,” I thought. And I confess for a split second, as my eyes scanned the room, looking for my baby boy, I had a little fear in my gut that something was not right.
And then, I saw this….
(yup, he’s wearing his big sisters bright pink Dora socks… No, she didn’t do this to him, he did it to himself…) Stifling a giggle, I ran to grab the camera… So, glad I didn’t skip my night time peek, I’d have hated to miss this precious sight.
I had a slight moment of déjà vu the other day while playing with my youngest son at the park.
I snapped this picture of him playing peek a boo at 22 months.
which had a striking similarity to the picture I snapped of his older brother at the same park at 23 months.
Hmmm….can you tell they are brothers?
It’s been really neat to watch the bond between my oldest and youngest. Our baby was the answer to his older brothers prayers, as he longed to have a little brother. I’ll never forget the look of pure joy when he found out he finally had a baby brother. I know he can’t wait for the day when they can truly play together, but for now it is so neat to see the love between them blossom.
Last night was proof that the love flows both ways. The baby is used to falling asleep at night with his big brother on the bed across the room reading his book. Last night, however, his big brother spent the night at a friends house. So, when we put the obviously tired baby into his crib, he had his baby, his pacifier, light on, door closed…but no big brother across the room.
When we walked out of the room, he was quiet for awhile. Then he started crying… truly crying. This is something he never really does when we put him down. Typically, we put him to sleep and he will just lay quietly in his crib until he falls asleep. I went back after awhile to see if maybe he lost his pacifier or something. But, no he had everything he needed, yet he was crying. After taking him out for a drink and laying him back down, he again started crying, REALLY CRYING.
We both suspected it had something to do with the big brother missing from the bed beside him.
So, Scott laid him down on his brothers bed. He snuggled up and fell fast and sound asleep… for the entire night.
It was his first night not sleeping in his crib…
sleeping soundly in his big brother’s bed…
It simply melts my heart…
I am convinced that some of the best bonding between my kids takes place after we kiss them goodnight and shut the door. The policy in our house has been that they can talk in bed (or in their drawers) as long as they are quiet and stay laying down. (no jumping off the bed or playing with toys) The giggles and chattering drifting down the hall are some of my most cherished sounds. In fact, it was during one of these “behind closed doors chats” that my son led his younger sister to the Lord. She told me one day that she knew she was a Christian because she had prayed with her brother one night asking God to forgive her of her sins and be her Savior.
So, naturally, when my oldest son moved out of the room he’d shared with his sisters for 4 years in order to share a room with his little brother, it was a bittersweet moment at the circus.
But, I think in the past year since that happened the bond of friendship between the girls has grown. AND a genuine love of reading has transpired in my oldest sons life, as well, as a unique bond of brotherhood between the boys.
When he moved into his brothers room, we knew the late night talking would cease for awhile. But, we told him, you may stay up and read in your bed. I had no idea at the time the hours of reading that would transpire with this new arrangement. It is not unusual for me to have to go back and tell him lights out at 11:00. In fact last Friday, he was beyond excited because he had managed to stay up until midnight!
It’s a cute little arrangement that has taken place. My youngest will contentedly lay in his crib falling asleep watching his big brother reading. It doesn’t bother him to have the light on, or to fall asleep with someone else in the room. In fact, I dare you to try to put him to sleep at night without his brother there.
Last night we told the kids to get ready for bed and we went down the hall to find this.
He sat there so quietly, so contently that we ended up leaving him there for awhile before going back and moving him to his crib. 
When I was taking my Elem Education classes in college, I learned that reading in front of your children is crucial to develop a life long love of reading. They need to see that you too enjoy reading and it just isn’t something you do because you have to. I can only imagine growing up watching his big brother read for hours every night, will have a similarly positive effect on him.
As if the sight of one boy playing the piano, didn’t melt my heart enough…
2 boys just turns me to mush
