Big Sister

My Mom was the one to tell Eloise about her new baby brother and she responded with, "No, I have a baby sister." Fair enough, she had been talking about her baby sister growing in my tummy for the final weeks of my pregnancy so it only made sense that this brother thing would take some getting used to. And even now, if you ask Eloise, "What is your baby brother's name?" she will reply with a very confident, "Audrey." Whoops.  

Once they met for the first time any disappointment at not getting a sister seemed to go out the window. Eloise was instantly smitten. From her first visit to the hospital she could not get enough cuddles with her new baby and gently smothered him in kisses. She wanted to hold him right away and her infatuation has only grown from there. Several times a day Eloise requests to hold Spencer and simply states at him in admiration. These are unbeatably sweet moments. 

Every morning Eloise climbs up beside me in bed and snuggles in as Spencer feeds. She tickles his toes and kisses his head and waits her turn to hold him before we all get up. She even helps out when we do diaper changes and brings Spencer his soother when he fusses. Eloise has never been so excited to go to school as she was that first morning after Spencer was born and share the news of her baby brother with everyone. She beamed with pride when she came home that day to tell me how her friends had all said congratulations.

Eloise is taking her big sister roll seriously and we've noticed some big changes in her over the last week. As she played independently with her toys the other day (which never happens) she announced to Chris and I that she no longer needed to use the potty. Some potty training regression a few months back meant that Eloise would use nothing but her potty so this was huge. She looked at us and said, "I'm a big sister now and I can use the toilet." And she did! 

I really think this big sister thing is a going to work out for Eloise (and us). And maybe, just maybe, as we get Spencer to sleep in his crib for longer stretches of time Eloise will finally want to do the same.