Monday, September 07, 2009

These Two

I'm pretty glad Makili is a good sleeper and has yet to wake up because of Remick's screaming. I'm pretty glad Remick came into this world not minding Makili's aggressive love, because Makili wants to kiss him and hug him and smother him with hugs all the time, especially when I'm holding him. When Remick was born, I had a terribly difficult time watching Makili adjust to Remick's new presence. It absolutely broke my heart to think about hurting him and in fact, the day of my sudden C-section, I HAD to drive home (and ended up being late) to hug Makili before it happened. I cried the whole way home about how I hadn't read to him the night before. And afterward, Makili did pretty well, but he did lose some of his normal joy for a while and it absolutely crushed me to watch and endure and not be able to fix. Thinking about it now makes me cry.
But we've come around the other side of that corner and I am so excited to watch these two grow up together, as brothers. My aunt Suzanne once told me that she was excited to raise sisters, and I now know how she felt. There does seem to be some magical bond between brothers (or sisters) that is exciting to watch unfold. It will be a joy of my life to watch how these two souls who are quite different already share this early part of their lives. And then I can hope it lasts.
They are different. Makili was an INTENSE baby, crying pretty much all the time until he was few months old, and then being fairly predictable and dare I say "easy?" He slept well from the moment he came home, never napped well, always ate well. He didn't seem very affected by noise or sound ever. As an infant he never seemed to care for me of anyone else in particular, except that I had the milk bags. Remick, on the other hand, came out mellow but has turned out to be a baby of extremes. He is either smiling and cooing endlessly or screaming his bloody head off! He is an unpredictable sleeper, though he has gotten a little better with the swing (last night sucked A LOT though). He loves me over anyone else and Raph frequently complains that he will do the exact same thing as me and get screams and I get smiles. He is far more sensitive to sound, looking for me as soon as he hears my voice, and loving music. Both these guys loved to be one the move, and swaddled. There were both so aware and alert very early. But I daresay from the getgo I feel their personalities are so different. I can't wait to see if my hunches are right...