Elijah's Transition

Since Joaquin was born everyone has been asking me how Elijah is handling the transition of no longer being the only child. I think overall he has done very well, although I don't really have anything to compare it to. We knew it would be a bit difficult because he is so young and doesn't really understand what is going on, but I have the sneaking suspicion he is a lot more aware than we know. :)
For those of you wondering how Elijah is taking to the changes, this post is for you...
So far he has really enjoyed the double stroller. Of course, he gets shotgun every time beacause Joaquin sleeps in the back. As soon as I put Joaquin in the second section Elijah turns into "big brother mode". He flips around and peeks out the back of his seat to make sure Joaquin is OK. He LOVES checking up on Joaquin and will frequently whip around to see his baby brother when we are out and about using the stroller.

Here is Elijah from Joaquin's point of view, peeking over the back of the front seat.

Another help with the transition has been the "practice baby brother" that MiMi bought him. We've been working on holding the baby, how to touch bubba GENTLY, and things of that sort. Elijah has a tendency to love poking the baby in the eyes (he still has a fetish for circles). He also has developed a habit of snatching Joaquin's passy out of his mouth and then trying to put it back in...which inevitably ends up in Joaquin's eye. So, we've been trying to learn to hold bubba's hand instead of inducing vision loss. Notice please that Elijah IS NOT "playing with dolls" as most machismo men would claim; the "practice baby brother" is BLUE and therefore is designated for boys. :)

Elijah and his "practice baby brother". Notice he is holding him correctly, but it looks like he is ominously about to go for the eyes (if not the 3rd eye for sure)!

One other BIG help with the transition has been our massive play pin! We noticed right away that Elijah was the most difficult when I was trying to feed Joaquin and couldn't respond to Elijah's "needs" (by needs I mean anything he wanted me to do that apparently was SOOO important to him). As soon as I got my Breast Friend pillow strapped on Elijah would start scooping the dirt out of the potted plants, head for the fireplace, and other activities he is very aware are No-No's. It seemed all his previous discipline training would go out the window as soon as Joaquin would start to nurse. So, Ian had the brilliant idea to buy two of these Super Play Yard's and hook them together to make a designated "independent play time" area for Elijah. The fact that it is so large allows me not to feel so guilty about "caging him up" while mommy feeds the baby. It took a while for him to get used to it, but it has been a lifesaver for me! When nursing time is over I just unhinge one of the panels and keep it open for him to go in and out as he pleases.

Here is the view of his independent play area, as we call it, from the stairs.

Overall, I think Elijah is getting the hang of it and we can tell he absolutely adores his little brother!