Journey of a Baby Brother

Poor Isaac. At this point in his life, he must feel like little more than a tagalong, an afterthought, that cute, chubby face in the background of his big sister's photos. So much of my day consists of me setting him up with something fun to play with, and then taking care of household projects or something more involved with Mikayla. So he spends a lot of time crawling around after us, pulling U-turns because he arrives in the kitchen after we've already left again, etc. He's getting pretty quick at it, actually. Factor in Mikayla's opposition to him having any manner of fun with his (which she believes are her) toys while she is present, and the guy seems to have quite the dull, if not slightly oppressive, existence.

(Don't feel too bad. Every female he encounters just drools over his big blue eyes and flirts endlessly with him. He doesn't have it so rough.)

Such was life this morning. We had just finished breakfast, and Mikayla was in dire need of a diaper change. I'll spare you the details. I plopped Isaac down with his shape sorter fire truck in the living room and headed upstairs with the little lady. Leave a ten month old unattended? Yup. We are so baby proof around here, there is nothing he can reach that could possibly hurt him before I'd hear what was going on. It is no sweat. Worst case, he does a lap around the house and I have to hunt for him for a few seconds when I come back. So I thought nothing of it when I left him to his own devices for 3-5 minutes depending on whether it was a 2 wiper or a 4 wiper. Moms, you know what I'm talking about.

Imagine my surprise when his voice suddenly sounded louder than it ever had before. Strangely close, as though he were approaching the....holy smokes!! I ran to the stairs and sure enough, there he was:

Go, buddy!! Thankfully, these stairs are so much more baby-friendly than the ones at our old place - the stairs that you had to literally turn your foot sideways as you went up or down because they were so shallow/steep. I am actually a-ok with Isaac climbing these, though perhaps not without a little company or a big pillow at the bottom. They're not steep at all, and his center of gravity is really comfortably low as he climbs all sprawled out. Do I sound defensive? No way. I don't feel weird or guilty at all that my son made it up seven stairs while I was on another floor of the house. Mom of the year.

Isaac is so fearless and bold though, such a boy. Another recent case in point you might find amusing, while I am actually here blogging: I don't do this often, but the other day I showered while Mikayla was napping, and brought some toys into the bathroom for Isaac to play with. Mikayla, when she was his age, used to get bored with her toys, and would come stand at the end of the bathtub, pull the shower curtain back, and wind up with a wet face and arms from talking to me while I washed my hair. Isaac? Straight to the middle of the bathtub side, flailed both arms wildly until the entire shower curtain was outside of the tub, and then stood there squawking at me while water drenched both his entire body and the floor. Banging his arms on the bathtub, too, of course. I had to wrap it up quick or risk flooding the place. Little dude definitely knows how to compensate for being the often-ignored baby brother!

I love this kid. He is so much fun, and astounding us every day with all his grown-up tricks!

Oh, and I can't wait for his big cousin Elijah to come and spend some quality guy time with him next week (!!). I have a feeling Elijah knows all about standing up to a big sister and can give him a few pointers. Can't wait to see you, Kayes!