My Little Helper

My chicks are 17 and a half months apart, (it was supposed to be 18 and a half but B-Man decided to make an early appearance!) :) When he first arrived home Carebear didn't take much notice with him, she got upset when he cried but it seemed more like she was worried about him. For the most part she just continued on her merry way and didn't give him much thought. She's very independent and never seemed to mind that I was giving the baby more time than her at the beginning. As time has gone on she has started to really like B-Man. She's never shown an once of jealousy towards him and I feel very lucky that way.

In fact her latest thing she loves to do is make him laugh. She'll pretend sneeze and go "Ah-choo!" really loud and he giggles himself silly! He just loves her so much, everything she does he watches with amazement!

She doesn't realize it but what she's also doing is helping me by entertaining him for a moment! B-Man is at that age when he wants constant attention and with two little ones, work and cleaning to do I can't always give him 100% of my time 100% of the time so that's where Carebear comes in. She's so good with him and loves to make him laugh and helps to keep him entertained for a moment here and there!

The other day I was getting her dressed in her room and B-Man (like usual) was with me. I had to run downstairs to get something so I decided to leave them both in her room for a minute. 

Since Carebear is in her room my herself at night and at nap time (if there is a nap time) her room is VERY baby proof (mind you she is always helping us test that theory by finding something that we thought was safe and getting into it) but seriously, for the most part, her room is safe, so I didn't give it much thought about leaving them in there.

As I was coming back upstairs I hear a squeal, this automatically made me shoot up the stairs, heart pounding, but when I got to the door I realized it wasn't a squeal of pain or upset it was a squeal of laughter, good, hardy, deep belly laughter! 

I peaked in and saw that Carebear had taken a giant stuffed giraffe and was making it pretend sneeze to make the baby laugh, and boy did he think that was funny. This made me smile because she did this all on her own accord, I never once asked her if she could make the baby laugh :)

Today the same situation occurred, we were in her room when I needed to leave it for a moment, I came back to see Carebear holding two stuffed penguins and making them jiggle and dance so that B-Man would laugh :)
I think it's sweet to see how connected they are together. He just loves her so much and she's starting to like him. I'm so glad I had my chicks so close together. Although it's a lot of work, my hopes is that they will always feel close to one another, that's something I've always longed for and wished for me and my sisters and sadly never really had when I was younger.

Carebear has become quite the little helper as of late! She'll run and get B-Man his pacifier and put it in his mouth, give him his bottle, and will happily find him a toy or a book to play with. 

He respond in kind by pulling her hair or trying to eat any part of her he can grab, all with a big smile on his face. :)

I'm a firm believer in chores and not paid chores but family chores, where every family member has jobs to do, not for money but because they are a member of the family and we all have to work together to make the household run smoothly.
I also believe that chores should start very young with simple, manageable tasks. I feel this teaches children responsibly, team work, and pride in their home and belongings.
So Carebear has started some chores! Now don't I sound like a mean Mommy? But wait, it's not hard labour, it's picking up her toys before we leave a room, or putting a piece of plastic in the recycle bin.
Nothing too hard and in fact she loves to help!

There's a cute little cleaning song I always sing when we're tidying up and now she sings it too. Clean Up Song

She sings along as we tidy up her toys and it's so cute! She loves to help around the house, her Grandma even made her a special "Carebear height" broom so she can help sweep up!

I know it probably won't last forever so I'm enjoying it now, one day I'm sure it will be like pulling teeth to get her to help or to spend time with her brother but for now I'm loving every minute of it!