Bryce

With Tessa joining our family, we now have a middle child.  Both Chad and I are middle kids so the three of us have a sort of club going.

Besides Chad, Bryce is usually the first awake.  On days Chad has to work, he and Bryce get some QT together.  Bryce has a morning routine and he has to stick to it. Milk, bag of cereal, potty, kisses good-bye to dad, certain blankets, the same spot on the couch and maybe some SuperWhy.  If something goes amiss--he doesn't hesitate to let you know.  

A few weeks ago Chad decided to snap a picture of Bryce every morning for a week to chronicle his bed-head.  Even better, though, is capturing Bryce's personality first thing in the morning.  As you can see, he is perfecting the stink eye.

I was really nervous about Bryce when a new baby came.  Surprisingly, he's done really well.  While the novelty of a baby has mostly worn off for Caden, Bryce will still jump and run any time Tessa starts to fuss.  He has to hold Tessa right when he lays down for a nap and again when he wakes up.  She tolerates it pretty well...for now!

It kills me to think of what he's going to do next year when Caden is at school all day.  Anytime he can't find Caden, he wanders around the house calling for his brother.  This morning, Caden was actually the first awake.  When Bryce woke-up, Caden tried to get Bryce to follow him to practice their monkey play.  Bryce stood on the stairs torn...go downstairs for his morning routine or follow his brother?  While Caden was saying, "Come on, Bryce!" I said, "Bryce, you can come downstairs if you want."  He just couldn't decide. He kept saying, "I don't know!"  Finally, his brother and play practice won.  (And you should see the play--the ending will have you in tears!)

The thing I love most about Bryce is how he takes care of his mom.  When we're watching a movie and eating popcorn, he will remind Caden to save some for me.  When we go for family walks, he stops and waits if I fall behind.  He will wake me up in the night if he forgets to give me "loves and kisses" before bed.  

I'm so glad he's in our family's middle child club!