big brother

Becoming a big brother or sister is kind of a big deal.

Your entire world changes in an instant.

You have to share your mummy and daddy.

You get someone to share your childhood with.

And I think it worries most second-time parents,

at least a little bit,

to think of all the big changes to their first born's existence.

I can honestly say that I never really worried

about how the beautiful boy would react to Splodge's arrival.

He is such a happy, independent and chilled out child

and he is too young to even understand what jealousy is.

I knew we wouldn't see any bad behaviour as a result of his new brother or sister.

But I did worry about how it would make him feel

and also how it would affect our relationship.

It had always been him and me against the world

and I had liked our little club.

I knew I wouldn't have the time to dedicate to that anymore

but I didn't want to lose what we had.

Fortunately my big gorgeous boy has taken to being a big brother brilliantly.

He has never once shown even a hint of feeling like he's left out of things,

and while he initially seemed a bit disinterested in his baby sister

and would just say 'baby' and walk away,

he is increasingly becoming really interested in her.

He gets up in the morning and looks for her.

He demands we go back and say goodnight to her in the evenings when he goes to bed.

He likes to stroke her hair.

He tickles her feet with a cheeky smile when they are in the bath.

He comes to watch whenever she is being changed.

He will "shhh" her when she cries.

He rocks her car seat while we get things ready to leave the house.

He is gradually getting his tongue around saying her name instead of just 'baby'.

And he has finally had cuddles with her.

We didn't push cuddles in the early days.

As desperate as I was for pictures of my baby girl in my baby boy's lap,

I wanted it to be something that happened when he was keen and ready.

And he was so incredibly proud and protective of her when it finally happened

that I am extremely glad we waited.

He protectively laid his hand on her chest 

and they grinned at each other in a way which brought tears to my eyes and totally melted my heart. 

If it's even possible,

I think that seeing him with her makes me love him even more.

He is just so sweet and caring towards her

and it absolutely fills me with pride.

Seeing their relationship develop was and is the thing I look forward to most about having two children.

It warms my heart to think that whatever happens

they will always have each other.

That they have a playmate and friend for life in one another.