It seems like we blinked and 4 months went by. It’s been busy and hectic with Joshua juggling school and home and all of us balancing a life that revolves around a newborn. Harper welcomed Rilke with the utmost affection and it hasn’t slowed down since. He frequently asks throughout the day if he can “give Rilke a nice gentle kiss on the cheek?” He brings over a collection of toys for her to look at when she’s lying on a blanket and meticulously places them about a centimeter from her face so she can see them. He congratulates her on all of her daily accomplishments by exclaiming, “Good burp Rilke!” and “Good poopy diaper Rilke!” My favorite is when he hugs her and says, “I’m so proud of you Rilke.” It is so fascinating to see how siblings interact even on the simplest level.
Rilke has been growing into such a happy little girl. She is very smiley and treats us to the most amazing coos and squeals of excitement. She smiles with her whole body and looks at us with such loving eyes we can’t help but smother her with tons of kisses all day long.
Admittedly, the first six weeks were really difficult, the second six weeks were still a little tricky, but now things are really settling down and I feel like we are in a much more peaceful place. Although Rilke isn’t much of a napper, nights have been so much better. It was stressful putting her to sleep in the first few weeks. She was so persistent and would fight it with all her might. Now she is falling asleep all by herself and only wakes up two or three times a night to eat. Just last night I walked into our room at around 10:00pm to get something and I heard her rustling around. Within a couple minutes I heard her slurping away on her thumb. It was the first time she had found it and then she used it to snuggle herself back to sleep. Josh and I stood there crowded around her crib in the dim spotlight of a cell phone screen; we were so proud of her.
The past few months have been really great for Harper too. He can experience and appreciate so much more now that he’s getting older. He notices the sun setting early and he loves when we’re outside as it’s getting dark. Falling leaves, carving pumpkins, celebrating Josh’s birthday and my birthday, Thanksgiving, and now seeing Christmas trees everywhere mean so much more this year than they did last year. We will be getting a Christmas tree for the first time this year and I just can’t wait to see what Harper thinks about it.
Harper has been very consistent in his love for music. All day long he requests different songs to be played so he can sing along with a pretend microphone or drum along with a pair of wooden spoons. Right now the top requests seem to be Counting Crows, Dave Matthews, and lots of Elvis. Josh has been so good at introducing new songs every couple weeks which is great because after hearing “King Creole” a couple hundred times I am ready for a new one. Harper’s other love these days is his stuffed puppy. It was a gift from my friend Kate, meant for Rilke but snagged by Harper the second he laid eyes on it. It was affectionately called brown puppy for a few months but now is called Sadie (named after Curtis and Dana’s new dog).
A new fad Harper picked up is calling Josh “Babe”. I think it’s going to be a short lived phase so at the moment we still think it’s really silly and funny. He will pretty much substitute Babe for Daddy when he’s talking to Josh and he’ll even use it when Josh isn’t home. He’ll ask me, “Where’s Babe?” or say “Babe will be home soon”.
Josh and I have been blessed in so many ways. As we stumble our way through parenting we realize how fascinating the parent-child dynamic is. It’s hilarious to be on the other side of parenting, realizing that once we left the room as children, our parents might have been discussing whether or not they totally blew that one. Yep, Josh and I have had that conversation once or twice. We try our best not to go back on our word and we try to be consistent but sometimes Harper’s cuteness is just too much. Like the other day, we were in the car and we told Harper twice that he could eat as much of daddy’s sandwich as he wanted but he couldn’t hold it. I guess Harper though he just needed to request it in a more polite articulate manner so he said, “Dad, may I hold it one time please?” How can you deny a request like that coming from a two year old? Anyway, Today was Josh’s last day of class. We are SO excited because after a nice Christmas break Josh only has one semester left until graduation; we can’t wait to see what comes next!
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