How we are doing: Cameron

I always want to remember what these early days with Lola were like. Over the next few days, as I have time to post, I am going to be jotting down my thoughts and a few things about how we are all doing, in a separate post for each family member.

Today is Cameron's turn....

Lola Claire has been such a wonderful addition to our family! With her arrival, we've all changed a bit, and there's been a lot of adjusting--but on the whole, it has been nothing but positive since she joined us.

The boys--Cameron:

Cameron loves Lola immensely, but he expresses it differently than Ethan and Colin do. He asks to hold her a lot, but not as often as Colin--he is actually content to constantly just pet her while someone else holds her. He loves to give her kisses on her forehead, too. (Smother her in kisses would be an accurate description. *grin*)

Cam enjoys holding Lola most when she is quiet--when she starts to cry, he usually gets flustered and wants me to take her right away to calm her down.

"I'm done with Lola! I'm done!" he'll say to me, over her cries.

The funny thing is, though, that when she is not in his arms (like, if she is in the car seat or the bouncy seat) and she cries, he does just the opposite of getting flustered. He remains very calm, and begins to sing to her--generally a rousing rendition of "Jesus Loves Me" or the Lola Claire song. She seems to really respond to it, and many times calms right down--which certainly makes him feel like the proudest big brother ever.

Cameron says the cutest things about Lola, like (at bathtime today): "I love Lola's name Mommy. Lola Merritt Fransisca Merritt." *grin* That kid constantly gives me a chuckle.

The problem we deal with with Cameron--which is something that is just a part of his nature--is that he can be very 'not-so-gentle' with her, even though he doesn't mean to be and would never hurt her purposefully (read: using her head for leverage when he's getting up off of the floor, and so on. *yikes*) We have to remind him quite often about being gentle and careful.

One of my favorite things about how Cameron deals with Lola is also one of my favorite things that he does with me. I've mentioned it before--Cameron is very 'fashion conscious', and he is constantly admiring every little thing about Lola. He is always complimenting her on how 'cute' she is (just this morning, while holding her on the couch, he kissed her on top of the head and said to me, "I love Lola, Mommy. She's cute."), and always saying how pretty she looks in her outfits. He especially loves her headbands, or the hats with the over-sized flowers or korker bows attached.

This past Sunday, after seeing her in her church clothes and hat, he declared:

"Oh, she looks so beautiful, Mommy! Lola, you are beautiful!"

It is so precious to see Cameron's love for his sister....