Learning to Be a Big Brother

This weekend, Jake has been learning more and more what it means to be a big brother. When we were out and about on Saturday, we bought a boy doll so that Jake could practice how to hold the baby and treat the baby when he comes home. Jake agreed that if I wanted the doll, he would help me take care of it...but since we got it he has helped to carry and "take care" of it. I think he's really learning what you do with babies and don't do with babies.

Jake's also learning how to be a big brother in other ways. Sandpiper and her family attend our church and her youngest son has taken Jake under his wing. They attend some of the same stuff and several times over the past couple of years, J has really shown Jake how to be protective and brotherly. There have been several times that Jake will come home from summer session and talk about how J had played with him and his friends or how J had sat with them at lunch or how he had said hi throughout the day. We were at a reception and J took Jake around and taught him some very "needed" skills for a young boy (how to make gaseous sounds with a container of slime and how to scare all of the women with a fake spider).

Today, during the children's moments I saw one of the neatest things too. Jake came in with the other younger children and J was already up front. Jake went and sat down next to him and J put his arm around him and talked to him. After church I said something to Jake about it...Jake said, "Yeah J's pretty cool." I said, "He's kinda like a big brother, huh."

Jake said, "Yeah...he's like MY big brother."

And the learning continues.