This is only a test...

My shirt is soaked. To be more specific, I am covered in drool. And nothing could be better.

Can you tell that Henry is saying "CHEEEEEESE"?

Today we had the pleasure of watching my friend's baby, Grayson. "G$" is his street name--Henry is "Big H". G$ is a 6 or 7 month old chunk of sweetness. Very chill. He arrived this morning while Henry and I were watching Henry's BFF, Nathan, so spent his morning with Sloan. He napped and when I arrived home around 10:30, Gray and Sloan were sitting on the floor in the family room playing with trains. (Ok, Sloan was playing, Gray was gumming.)

Henry was very excited to come home to a baby. "Baby! Baby!" which would then lead to him singing the "Babies on the bus say waa waa waa" of course followed by the shushing Mommies. He also just had to teach Gray about all the toys on the exersaucer. "BEE says Buh. Buh" "Um, Henry, that Bee actually says 'Buzz Buzz." "No no. A ah. B buh. C cuh. BEEE BUH! BEEE BUH!" "Fine. The B says Buh. You're right." (You're just also kind of wrong. And shouldn't you be able to speak in sentences and use verbs properly before you can correctly identify all your letters and know their phonetic sounds. Isn't that the way it normally goes?)

I learned through this experience that I will be able to handle 2. It won't be easy, but I won't fall apart completely. Note the word completely. It took me awhile to regain my baby food feeding skills. This wasn't helped by the fact that Gray is teething and I had to dodge snot as I spooned food off his face. And it was lovely to feed a child a bottle again. Henry would come count Gray's toes while I fed him his bottle. Henry also shared his toys rather well. Gray would be chewing on one train and when Henry wanted to play with that train, he made sure to bring Gray another one to drool on. At one point, Henry tried to bottle feed Gray with his doll's bottle. Gray obliged him by gumming it for awhile too.

Hey, Henry. Let's start a band with the Reppard boys. I'll play drums.

First of all, Gray, in the immortal words of Montel Jordan--This is how you do it.

If you want to start a band, fine. But I'm playing the drums. And oh yeah, did I mention that since I'm oldest, I'll also be the band leader? Think Genesis--but cooler.

Mom is going to have to shred this pic when we really get the band going good. 'Cause I'm only being in a band for the ladies: this might send the wrong message.

It only got harried at Gray's nap time. In the morning, Gray napped in the pack and play in Henry's room, which is relatively dark. In the afternoon, I had to move the bed to my room, which is not as dark. (Note to self--get black out curtains for ALL bedrooms.) We tried everything and Gray was not about to go to sleep. Perhaps it was the teething. Perhaps it was that he knew his buddy Henry was still awake and playing. Perhaps I'd pressed "rain" sounds on the sound machine his Mommy packed him when he usually listens to babbling brook. Perhaps it was that I've lost my ability to let a child 'cry it out'.

Henry was upset by Gray's crying. "No no, baby. No ky-ing. Shhh. Shh. Night Night, baby. I here. I here." And then he began to go into his room and bring Gray all of his stuffed animals that he sleeps with. He began with the peripheral pillows and such. First up, his decorative pillow that looks like a steering wheel. "Here, baby, wheel. Vroom Vroom." Then, a giant Thomas pillow. "Choo! Choo! Baby, choo choo." A giraffe. "Raff, baby. Wook, raffe." At this point, I am touched by my son's compassion, am laughing, and Gray is crying even louder. He is being crowded out of the pack and play. And then, I knew that my son either was really sick of the crying or really loved Gray--he brought in Hop Hop and Dog Dog. "Here, baby. Hop Hop. Baby, Dog Dog. Woof Woof, (followed by heavy panting). Night night, baby."

I let my son believe that Gray settled down because of all the toys. I shushed Henry out of the room and set to de-Henryizing the bed, thinking I'd just put the toys back in Henry's room once Gray was asleep. But I had to rock Gray to sleep in Henry's room. Needless to say, Henry got to watch a little more TV today than usual. Probably why he loves Gray so much.

But after about 20 minutes of sleep, Gray was up again. Poor guy. Basically, he just needed to be near me. His mom tells me she told him how I needed baby cuddles and for him to be needy. What bliss! Every time I settled him down, I'd try to give him a bottle or play with some toys for him. But no, he needed to be near me. So I ended up just strapping him on and wearing him around for the rest of my day. Hence, the soaked shirt. He even accompanied me to put Henry down to his nap time.

About thirty minutes before his mom arrived, he finally gave in and fell asleep--which is good, because I'd hate it my friends thought I broke their baby. I did wreck his schedule, but oh well, that's life.

When Henry woke up from his nap, he immediately began asking for "baby". We told him that Gray went home. Henry's face fell. "Oh no, bye bye baby." At dinner, he couldn't sit in his high chair (which we're using simply as a booster seat now b/c it is sans tray), because that was for the baby.

All in all, I think it was a good baby training day in the Phillips household. Henry was sweet and gentle and only mildly jealous. Only trouble is, I'm too well rested and seeing as it is now back to just the three of us, I'm not having to have endurance. But I don't think you can train for that. I think you just walk around like a zombie for a couple of months, bathe when you can, pray you don't break your leg on the scattered toys, and trust that God can redeem anything.