Swinging & Bedtime: A Sweet Sister Post

After a few days of coming down with and recovering from a cold (which didn't actually stay around long), Helena had a very, very sweet day today. She did not stop rubbing the baby, saying "sweet baby" or kissing the baby the entire time she was sick (oops!) and I can't say that I really wanted to stop her. Tonight, though, I had several opportunities to see just how sweet she can be. This evening, Isabelle got an early Christmas present. It is something I had wanted to get for her all along--we didn't have one for Helena and didn't really think about it until she would almost have outgrown it: a baby swing. I have been looking at all of the different patterns, etc., and thought that I might want the Classic Pooh design because Helena likes Winnie the Pooh so much and gets excited when she can identify characters (like Ernie on Isabelle's diapers, or Blue from Blue's Clues on her own!). We had a $30 gift card to Target from Anton's co-workers, and the Classic Pooh swing happened to be in stock, so we bought it early. I have been needing somewhere off of the floor (out of the cold and away from curious and affectionate sister) and other than the bed to put the baby when she is awake and content, so Anton assembled it tonight instead of saving it until Christmas. Isabelle won't know the difference!!

Helena was not interested in the assembly process at first, but became so. When it was finished, she stood behind it and swung the seat, chanting "swing, swing. . ." Now, Helena did not like to swing when we had an outdoor swing set. It has only been in th past 6 months or so that she has come to like swinging--and boy, does she!! Here is an example of her obsession--she likes Anton & Phelan to swing her by her wrists and ankles (of course, I was fond of a game called "sausage on a string" when I was much older!!):
So between her love of swinging and her love of Pooh, we were a little apprehensive. When I stood up with the baby, however, Helena patted the seat of the swing and said, "baby! baby!"--telling me to put the baby in the swing! When I did, she kept her place behind the swing, swung Isabelle and sang, "swing, swing. . ."

Now, she may have tried to climb in once the baby was finished, but she did let her sister try it first, and we did manage to avert disaster--she did not climb in! She did, however, claim the Pooh stuffed toys from the mobile:

Helena had a bit more momma-time tonight than has been possible lately--Isabelle took a nice, long nap, but had been nursing for a while when it was time for Helena to go to bed. Isabelle was on my lap (not nursing) and Helena next to me on the futon/sofa when Anton came to retrieve Helena & rock her. Helena had other ideas. First, she resisted his efforts to pick her up off of the futon. Then, she reached for Isabelle. Curious, I humored her, lifting the baby in the direction in which Helena was moving her. She (with me) lifted the baby straight into Anton's arms, saying, "here!" When Anton took the baby, I took her hand and she walked with me into the back room to be rocked.

Now, she didn't fall asleep immediately. She had taken a long, late nap. Inevitably, Isabelle began to fuss. Helena looked to the door & said, "baby?" Anton eventually came to swap daughters, but again, Helena had other ideas! She wanted me to take the baby, but she wanted to stay also. So I rocked both for a while, just like in this post, and Helena held Isabelle's hands & stroked her tummy & cheek. I did have to go to nurse the baby eventually, to Helena's dismay, but without the baby to distract her, she soon fell asleep.

Earlier in the evening, too, Helena had added an extra blanket to the baby, indicating her belief (as Anton pointed out) that babies should be well-covered when sleeping (even when sleeping in the car seat)!