Big Brother, Little Brother

Jacob and I spent the last nine months explaining to Brody that he was going to be a big brother. He never seemed to understand. As we were decorating the new nursery, Brody became attached to a little stuffed sock, calling it "baby". I'm fairly certain that Brody thought the nursery was for his baby. When we would go into the room, he'd toss "baby" up and over the crib railing, putting baby to bed.

We decided that it was time to name the real baby, distinguishing it from Brody's baby. Jacob and I had a solid list of 6-7 names that we couldn't narrow down. One night before dinner I was going through the names with Brody and when we got to Logan, he pointed at my belly and said "Baby Logan". From there, it stuck. Brody named our second child. With two indecisive parents, it's nice to have a 2 year old that can make decisions for us.

As we started talking about baby Logan, I'm still not sure Brody got it. He would put his hand on my belly and call it baby Logan, but then I'd catch him in the bath, spreading the washcloth across his "baby Logan". We'd introduce him to other babies, but I don't think he was making the leap from my belly to live baby. I started to wonder about the transition Brody would make from being an only child to the older brother. I looked forward to his visits in the hospital when Brody would finally get to meet baby Logan, but unfortunately because of Logan's stay in the NICU, Brody wasn't able to visit with his younger brother.

When Logan was released from the hospital, I went to pick Brody up from day care while Jacob took Logan home. I told Brody that Dada was home with baby Logan and that he was excited to meet his older brother. As we came inside and found Logan and Jacob on the couch, Brody immediately went in for a closer look and declared him "baby Loooogan".

Logan brought presents for Brody, so any remaining hesitation was lost when Brody saw the new Thomas train cars.

Now, as Brody wakes up he asks for baby Logan. Before he goes to bed, he must say goodnight to baby Logan. Brody is in love with his little brother and Logan seems to tolerate Brody as well. He hasn't fussed about Brody's attention yet, accepting the kisses, the finger pokes, and the toys that are lovingly thrown at him without complaint. I wish I could say that I expect this lovefest to continue, but I acknowledge that with two boys so close in age our house is going to be host to many wrestlemania-style battles. All that I can hope is that their love endures those fights and as they grow up they become the best friends that we hoped they'd be.