A toddler and a baby: The love. The torture.

I feel compelled to write this post not just for everyone's immediate amusement, but for posterity's sake. Eventually, there will come a time when Audrey and Trevor have a relationship that looks very different from the relationship they have right now. And when that time comes, I want to remember things as they are now. 

Because right now, shit is CUTE AS F***. Seriously, oh my god.


THE LOVE:

When Trevor was two days old and had just come home from the hospital, Audrey decided to serenade him with some tunes on her Doc McStuffins guitar. When I asked her what she was doing, she told me she was "playing guitar for baby Trevor."

THE TORTURE:

A few days later, Audrey decided that the sleeping Trevor was looking a bit shabby, so she wanted to spruce him up. She took some brightly colored hair ties that she wears as bracelets and put them on her baby brother, one by one. Thankfully he did not wake up.

THE LOVE:

Audrey always wants to "hold baby Trevor." She demands this of me at least once a day. I generally allow it as long as she is sitting down, and as soon as I put him in her lap she becomes absolutely giddy with excitement. Oftentimes, she will then shout "LOOK! I'M HOLDING BABY TREVOR!"

It's precious.

It doesn't matter whether Trevor is enjoying it or not -- she's still happy.

THE TORTURE:

She loves Trevor so much that she can't resist sharing her favorite things with him. This includes burying him under many large Elmo dolls ...

"Here Trevor, you can play with Elmo," she said. 

... and even giving him her treasured binkie when he gets upset, despite the fact that he hates binkies and has no interest in sucking on one. 

TAKE THE BINKIE GODDAMMIT TREVOR I WILL SHOVE IT IN YOUR MOUTH UNTIL YOU COMPLY.

THE LOVE:

She wants to kiss him and cuddle him all the time. ALL. THE. TIME. First words out of her mouth when Jesse gets her from her crib every morning: "I want to go see Trevor."

She and I will go downstairs while Trevor stays sleeping for a bit in the morning. As soon as I go upstairs to get him, she tails me and screams that she wants to "say hi to Trevor!" This includes hugging him, pressing her face against his head, and kissing him repeatedly.

We cannot go to bed at night without her first giving him a kiss on the lips. If he turns his head, she will keep trying until she gets lips.

I was afraid she would be jealous of how much time I spend holding Trevor as he breastfeeds, but nope -- she just hops up on the couch to snuggle against him while he eats.

Selfie interrupted by smooches.

More kisses for her brother.

THE TORTURE:

She knew, just KNEW, that he wanted to play with crayons while he was sleeping.

So she provided them.

THE LOVE:

She always wants to snuggle Trevor. No jealousy, no tantrums, no "you're MY mommy" ... she is just thrilled to have a little baby brother. Sometimes her snuggles are a bit ... aggressive, though:

"Oh God please don't, not another snuggle!"

"LOOK MOMMY I'M SNUGGLING TREVOR!"

THE TORTURE:

She wanted to try on all her shoes.

Then she wanted Trevor to try on all her shoes.

This poor kid; I can already see 8-year-old Audrey putting a bunch of makeup on him and dressing him in drag during sleepovers with her friends.

Lookin' good there sir.

THE LOVE:

Whenever Trevor "plays" with something (I put "play" in sarcastic air-quotes, because let's face it: he's too little to really play with anything. He just looks at stuff and flails around), Audrey wants to play with him.

This means climbing into the exercise gym with him:

I had to stop her when she tried to lie down next to him, though. It was getting a bit unsafe in there.

She also insists on regular Tummy Time, as this amuses her greatly. Sometimes, he will be nursing or asleep and she'll come up and shout "TREVOR, WAKE UP! WE NEED TO PLAY TUMMY TIME!" While he's on his tummy, she will bring toys over one by one and show them to him. Tummy Time isn't over until she says it's over.

Someday, she won't want to play with him to save her life. But today is not that day.

THE TORTURE:

She was playing with stickers. I guess Trev was looking a bit shabby again.

"I put the monkey sticker on Trevor's head."

"[sigh] Yes, I see that."

Luckily, she had stuck it like 500 other places beforehand, so it wasn't very sticky anymore.

THE LOVE:

She comforted him when a part of a movie she was watching scared her. She naturally assumed that Trevor was scared of it too, so she swooped him up and told him it would be okay.

For real. She did that.

When he cries in the car, she tells him "it's okay Trevor, it's okay."

When he cries at home, she brings him binkies, blankets, toys, anything she likes because she figures he likes it too and so it will make him stop crying.

Even her torture comes from a place of love. She has never once harmed him intentionally. Never.

When he was a newborn, she wanted to stand on a stool and watch him have his baths every single night.

When she threw a binkie at me and it bounced off me and hit his head, she sobbed for several minutes in true remorse as she hugged him, filled with sorrow because she had inadvertently hurt him.

Audrey loves her damn brother. And I love her all the more for it.