Brothers

I woke up this morning to the sound of Milo crying. The oldest two were up getting themselves ready for school and Piper was wandering the house like a zombie, looking for her Ree-punzel doll. I found Milo on his bedroom floor, clutching his pillow and blanket.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"I don't want to sleep by myself!" he sobbed.

"Well, don't then." I said. "Get up and have breakfast!"

"But Tucker is going to school!" he cried. "I don't want him to go to school!"

Our kids have come in an AB pattern, like my school kids would say, and me because I'm kind of a nerd. Girl, boy, girl, boy, girl, boy. I love having the variety every time but I kind of assumed my kids would miss out on having that sibling of the same gender who they are really close to. Avery and Piper are two totally different personalities and they clash like night and day. Avery is organized and Piper is lazy and when it's time for them to clean their room, it's earplug time for me while they sort out their differences.

But Milo and Tucker aren't that way and it's so fun to watch them be boys. Whenever it's lights out at bedtime, I hear lots of clunking and giggling and squealing from their room. I crack open the door and find them wrestling and tackling and sweating. It's hard to get mad because I find it so endearing. They play together so nicely and Milo doesn't appreciate when it's time for Tucker to go back to school.

This morning, he hauled himself off of the floor and came out into the living room dragging an empty backpack.

"I'm going to school with Tucker." he said, suddenly wide awake and chipper.

I thought he was joking but he started packing up the backpack with his essentials; helicopters, trains, airplanes, a shirt.

"Oh, buddy." I said. "You can't go to school until you are five."

"But I will be six today!" he said, his chin quivering.

Can he stay little forever, please?

This little man is growing like a weed. He was a great sleeper through the night until about a month ago. I was so desperate, I actually googled, "WHY WON'T MY FOUR MONTH OLD SLEEP ANYMORE?" (in all caps) and found it was an actual problem. The four month sleep regression. Who knew? I've been working on getting him to take better naps during the day and go to bed earlier at night after a bowl of rice cereal. We are getting better! Just not there yet. But look at that face. And his hands! His hands are either folded together or shoved up into his mouth. In a few days, he will be at that golden age of five months. I love that age!

It's been eight years since we became parents. Avery was our only baby for the first three years we were married until Tucker finally came along. I thought for a while that she was the only baby we would get!

Here is a little blast from the past.

One of the best days ever! Avery Ann joined us after a long day of labor and an unplanned c-section.

She spent the first two weeks of her life under these lovely lights.

While I was in recovery, Chet kept a watchful eye on her in the nursery. It's too bad I didn't keep a watchful eye over his hair or I would have cut it before we went into the hospital. But look, he had hair back then! (Side note: Piper asked me the other day, "Why do some dads have hair?")