Ah! To Be Loved So! (Day 13)

Kuscheln Leo. All day long.

"Mami, can I kuschel Leo?" when she opens her eyes in the morning. "Mummy, I want to kuschel Leo!" when he's half dressed and cries for a feed. "Mummy, can I hold Leo now?" after breakfast, after lunch, after dinner. Even in the middle of the night, when Leo wakes up in bed with me, and Tara wakes up in her bed next door, I'm likely to get a very alert sounding "Mummy! I want to kuschel him!" coming round the corner. Any time of day or night, and any imaginable situation, Tara wants to cuddle her baby brother.

"He's very cute, actually," she said on day one. "I love baby Leo," she said on day nine. "Aaw, what a lovely baby brother I got, what was in mummy's tummy; Aaaw Leo," she cooed on day 11. She says it, and she means it. It's lip service in the nicest possible sense, with dozens of snotty, germ ridden kisses being planted on his little head, nose, lips, cheeks, daily.
Tara will bend over his basket, just to stroke his little face for a few moments before she returns to her play. Or, ahem, she will try to pick him up for an unsolicited cuddle. She has sung to him when he was crying, and Bah Bah Black Sheep did calm him down. She hushes and shushes and coos, "Shhhh, Shhh Leo, Schatz, hallo! Hallo, hallo! Hallo hallo, Schatz!" And I swear it's not regular English or German she speaks to him then, but proper Motherese.
My beautiful girl - brought up on love and cuddles, she knows how to love and cuddle. To say I'm proud and pleased would be an understatement.

I'm waiting for the day when Leo loves her back. For when his face lights up when she comes to see him, for the cooing and gurgling and patting when she kuschels him. I want to see Tara's face when she understands how much her baby adores her and looks up to her. I'd say I can't wait to see it, but I can: Every day is so full of blissfully enjoyable moments, of hilariously funny ones, or even difficult and trying ones when I need to pour out all the love and patience I can muster for my children - I wouldn't want to miss a single moment; not a single day, and not a single squished up, sleepless night.

Tara loves Leo. It's that simple.

PS.: In the first week, there have been some iffy moments, with a few since, and decreasingly so. Sibling rivalry and dislike peaked in a moment when Leo had lost a sock, I asked Tara if she could put it back on, she pulled off his other sock too. That's the extent of it. And this entry isn't about the challenging moments, anyway.