I Could Have Never Predicted

Jake is madly in love with Olivia. It is the most wonderful gift in my life, the fact this little girl came into my life and turned out to be the most amazing gift for Jake. I have never pushed his attachment to his sister. It has formed on its own, and I nurture it only to the extent that I let him be free with her, not overly-monitoring like I do on everything else he does that I hawk-eye.

This morning I longed for a shower, and she was unwilling to nap, a new deadly habit she is perfecting. Jake was more than willing to sit on the floor in her room, surrounding by approved toys, and play while I took a 28-second shower.

The monitor was in the bath with me, and I loved the sounds that were coming from it. Gurgles of joy from Olivia, Jake being such a loving brother. After I had soaped up my hair, however, Olivia gave out one of those small wimpers that she does when she'd just rather be doing something else. I could hear Jake on the monitor too, saying, "Oh, come on Olivia...you like it. It's fun."

I raced out of the shower, half-clean, and barely dried as I ran in the room where they were playfully laying on the floor looking at books. I will never know exactly what Olivia was enjoying so much, because I am not going to ask, but I know Jake. And it probably was some strange toy on her head, because this was his fun activity of Saturday:


You may find me cavalier: not grilling Jake on every activity that passed while I misted clean in my allotted time. But I grill him on everything, and I have watched him for almost ten months around Olivia. I will tell you, loving/taking care of his pride-and-joy sister is an area where he is excelling. I could never have told you that that one part of adding a new baby to the family would be where I get the most joy.