Chanler is being a great big brother :)

Shortly after Jessaleigh was born, we woke him up so he could meet his new little sister - he was clearly in awe of her! After he woke up a little and stared at her for a while, he decided that she needed some clothes - he knows right where her clothes are, so he ran over and got out a sleeper and some socks, and then decided that she needed some pants - so he got her some of his - I think they are just about as long as she is!

He loves to bring her toys and stuffed animals, and he is being very good at bringing her baby toys - but of course he really thinks that we should be letting her eat food.

He loves to hold Jessaleigh, and if she is fussy, he tells her softly that she is OK - so cute. Last night while he was holding her, he kissed her on the head and said, "I love Jessaleigh, I love my little sister." Sure made my eyes misty, and I don't think that was from lack of sleep!

Of course being a big brother brings on more responsibility - now instead of, "I can do it, I'm a big boy" when he wants to do something that we think is a little beyond his reach, it is "I'm a big brother!"

The other night I was putting Chanler to sleep, and he started singing - at first just nonsense words, at least nothing that I could make out.

Then he started singing a prayer - "Thanks for making Mommy, thanks for making Chanler, thanks for making Daddy, thanks for making Jessaleigh, God. Thanks for making our car, thanks for making our house, thanks for making books, thanks for making the men in the books that go bang, bang, bang. Thanks for making hands, thanks for making feet, thanks for making legs, because we need legs to walk. Thanks for making everything, thanks for making the sun, thanks for making toys."

There was more, but I don't remember all the things that he thanked God for making - and there were some repeats of course. He also thanked God for making Jesus a couple of times - we will have to clear that theological conundrum later :)

It is good to know that seeds are being planted, makes it all worthwhile!

Chanler's Law aka The Observer effect - "the term observer effect refers to changes that the act of observing will make on the phenomenon being observed."

Over the last few days Chanler has been wonderful with his new sister. He says such cute things to her, wants to hold her, give her kisses, etc. all until you pull out the camera to catch such cuteness for posterity. Once the camera is on, all Chanler wants to do is see the picture and have the camera flash.

I guess I need to invest in the nanny cam, just to capture my kids being cute without them knowing it.

We were in the midst of getting Jessaleigh's paper work done (full story) this morning. Chanler asked what we were doing. We tried to explain that we had to get official paperwork for Jessaleigh, just like Chanler and Mommy and Daddy have. Chanler still wanted to know why we had to go to another office. I told him we had to get one kind of paper (the birth certificate) from one office and then we had to take that paper to the second office (SSN) to get the other paper. He asked if there were going to be doctors there to check Jessaleigh, and I explained that there were just going to be bureaucrats there to help us with our paperwork. The next thing I know Chanler is talking about going to see "Beercats" I had to laugh out loud! I think things might go more smoothly in general if all bureaucrats were beercats!

Kids don't really understand home improvement projects!!!! My evidence for this - a couple of things Chanler has said over the last few days

1) During bathroom demo: "Daddy is breaking our house" said in the saddest possible tone
2) On Kitchen demo: "the men came and go bang-go, bang-go and broke our kitchen" and "why did that man take our counter"
3) On bathroom reconstruction: "Daddy built a new house?"

I hope it will start to make sense to him when things start coming together (right now everything is broken and nothing new had actually been installed)