watching noah

This was the last week we regularly watched Noah Wilson during the day. For the past eight weeks we had the pleasure of babysitting my nephew twice a week for a couple hours as my sister had regular appointments. Next week my sister goes back to work, at first part-time and then full-time in November and little Noah will be at daycare. It was a great experience for both Eddie and I, to have another baby and see what it would be like if I had two of my own. There were moments when it felt very natural and I was proud of my guy's ability to play independently. I was conscious of his need for attention and would often sing songs - it seemed to soothe Noah and make Eddie smile. Eddie smiles at Noah. He wants to touch him, pat his head. One time he actually hit Noah's head and Noah made such a sour puss face at him...perhaps an indication of future battles to come. I hope they don't pick on each other. My sister and I won't know how to handle that since our fights were always verbal exchanges of "you poop!" Eddie likes to play with Noah's car seat. And he has enjoyed having his bouncy seat back out of storage - he crawls into it and plays, mostly trying to figure out how to clasp the harness straps.

The most difficult moments came during feedings and naptime. When I was feeding Noah a bottle, Eddie would clamor to be fed too and start to climb in my lap, or at least attempt to. I often had to walk away or leave the room so that Eddie wouldn't see me feeding Noah and get jealous. The other challenge would occur during nap time - when I had to put Eddie down and simultaneously Noah was nearing the sleep stage too. Noah would get cranky and would not want to be put down, and yet Eddie would need his bedtime ritual of a feeding...so I was stuck. Sometimes it felt like dueling banjos, with both of them crying as I would try to set Noah down and he wanted nothing of the sort and yet Eddie would be whining to be picked up too. Noah reminds me a lot of Eddie as a newborn - he is a fairly high needs baby. He is not colicky like Eddie, but he does not go to sleep unassisted. Here I am back on the ball, bouncing a baby to sleep. It feels good to do it again, in a way. To know that I can soothe another baby to sleep. Noah also does not like to be put down for naps, he likes to be held and sleep in your arms. It is that same tricky eggshell battle of trying to put the closed eye baby down onto a bed, with hands still on him to make him feel as though you are still there, and then carefully removing them so as to not wake him...and then Eddie starts babbling and his voice wakes Noah. Ugh. This process continues at least four times before I succeed. Yes. I still have the touch.