Settling in with two youngsters

May 12

Jeff's pattern for settling into his quiet time was to get his blanket and lay on a pillow on the floor. Here he is settled down in the living room. He seems quite secure with having a younger brother in the house.

Mark just seems relaxed and still sleeps a lot.

When Mark had a pacifier, Jeff wanted a pacifier. We tried to go gently with this kind of situation, knowing that it must be a big adjustment for Jeff. On the whole, it didn't seem too traumatic for him.

Jeff wanted to be around when things were going on with Mark, and here watches intently as Mark gets a bath. Mark also responded to the presence of Jeff, and would lean toward him.

Of necessity we were spending a lot of time with Mark, but we watched Jeff very closely too. It was clearly a time when we needed to invest deeply in each boy's life to make sure they felt secure and loved. The care of both boys was deeply in each of our daily prayers.