Monday, April 4, 2011

Best Big Sister

Josie's generous spirit made the transition into big sister an easy one for her. She's always loved helping others and now there are lots of ways she can be helpful.  No kidding - this was a scene I happened upon a couple of weeks ago. I had set aside the basket of Josie's dirty clothes in the laundry room and then went into our bedroom to fold and put away some other clothes. I come back to find Josie putting her clothes into the washing machine. She had gotten her own stool and had just finished loading up the machine with all of her clothes. Sweetest little girl in the world.
 Here she is with her own Moby Wrap. (Thanks Kelly!)  Bea is a regular traveler in my Moby (as was Josie in fact) and our biggest problem around here is trying to convince Josie that it really is unsafe for her to carry Bea herself. She wants to so badly, but knows she can't. So for now she's content to "practice" helping by carrying Baby Stella around. 

Here's another scene I came upon one afternoon after our friend Missy brought over a delicious dinner and these adorable sister dolls for the girls. (Each one has their name embroidered and they are so cute!) Josie carefully buckled both sisters into the swing. She loves to go visit Roly when she's in the swing, give her kisses and change her music. (Thanks to the Austins for the sweet hand-me-down swing and to Grandma & DD for getting it back into peak condition.)

Here is Josie helping out in the kitchen. Let me just give a shout-out to Montessori Education and the "practical life" lessons that have created a very talented dish washer.  (And get this, she thinks it is fun!) Here is actually washing the breast pump and bottles.

 And while helping out with all the baby-related chores is certainly appreciated, some times the best thing Josie does is just relax, step away and keep herself entertained while we take care of Bea's needs. Here she is looking rather grown-up in the TV-watching pose.  (BTW- There's a post brewing about how big she has gotten but I'm just not ready to face those emotions yet. I will say that there these little moments when I look at her and she just looks so grown-up and this one was definitely one of them.) 

All told, Little Josephine is now Big Sister Josephine and couldn't be more proud.  Four weeks later, she still proudly declares "Roly is HERE! I have a baby sister!!" whenever she meets someone new or sees someone she hasn't seen for awhile.  She randomly tells anyone who will listen how much she loves her little sister and how happy she is that she is "finally here."   And, she really has been such a big help.  (Consider this our official endorsement for spacing out your kids three years, although you all know that certainly wasn't our original plan.) Thank you Josie for being the best daughter and best big sister a family could ever want! Love you Bug!

*And I think the photos are fixed now. Thanks for the tips.*

4 comments:

FourAustins said...

I can't see any of the pictures - I couldn't see the 3 week old picture either :( Waaaaaaa!!!

Anonymous said...

I can't see the photos either, and when I click on the square and say open picture it does nothing. HELP, I want to see these. Laurie

FourAustins said...

I love the picture of J washing bottles...hair a mess...kind of looks sleepy...just as one should look when washing pumping bottles - haha!!
And I think we are both going through a passage of time phase. I am going to try and finalize a post tonight - entitled "Time." Not as deep as it seems - haha!!

Anonymous said...

These pictures are priceless. What a big helper Josie is. I love it, and that you were able to capture these is even better. Keep the post coming. Laurie