Brotherly Love

These two boys bring so much joy into our home!  We also have our hands full.  

Just this morning they were tag teaming me as I was by myself trying to get us ready for church while Bryan was at work.  Here I was attempting to apply some eye makeup while Jackson is standing on his step stool, smearing my eyeliner all over the sink and Judah furiously unravels the toilet paper all over the bathroom floor.  In general, the boys are very well behaved, but they have both recently launched into new levels of maneuverability and curiosity.  And they are fast!  

For the most part, they get along great...Jackson wants to be helpful and take care of his brother and Judah is content to follow along and observe what it looks like to be a little human.  However, they do have their moments where they want what the other person is playing with or they become protective of their space and toys.  In the last few days, this has changed from a verbal protest to a physical protest.  They have no problem just taking what they deem they should have.  What Jackson may have in stability and size, Judah makes up for with brute strength and speed.  It is sometimes difficult to know when to intervene and when to let them work it out on their own.  Clearly, safety can be a concern at times and teaching them to respect personal boundaries is important, but they also need to learn how to mediate their own play, too.  Sometimes the later can be quite comical...for instance, the other day, Jackson gently pushed Judah down to his bottom from a stand and then said, "Now Judah, you crawl away." or he'll tell me, "Mommy, put Judah down for a nap."  Other times, it can be frustrating...last night Jackson dumped a cup full of water on Judah's head while they were in the bathtub and apart from a momentary shocked expression, he just shook it off without response and kept on playing; while Judah splashes and gets a drop of water in Jackson's eye and Jackson will have a complete meltdown.            

Here are a few precious pictures we captured of them enjoying their time together: