K and his little brother

K is still adjusting to the baby. He is mostly indifferent to X, although he does go look at him once in a while, and to please us he'll occasionally volunteer, "I like the baby." He hasn't done or said anything negative toward X, other than complaining about how loudly X yells during diaper changes.

Mostly, I think K sees his little brother as competition for Mommy attention. He was always a Mama's boy but he has been extra-clingy lately. I wish we had started much earlier having JW be equally responsible for certain parts of K's daily routine, like giving him a bath and putting him to bed. K makes a huge fuss if I'm not available to do those things, and also wants me to pick him up from school and hold his hand while he eats dinner. (Pickup and dinner used to be JW's domain.) But the baby still needs to be fed on demand and I'm so exhausted. Anyway, I'll give K the extra attention he needs and hope he gets over it, and in a few weeks X should be on more of a predictable schedule so I can plan a little better.

At least K's initial reaction seems to have passed. He started lying all the time, and not in a cute way. After getting the parental smackdown four or five times in a row (it's unusual for him to take that long to get the message and correct his behavior) he seems to have stopped the sneakiness. He was also trying a little too hard to make sure we still like him. Like if we laughed at one of his jokes, he'd tell it over and over, and by the end when we'd given up even pretending we thought it was still funny, he'd still be fake-laughing with an anxious look on his face. The grandparents have been here for the past few days and having them to play with him and pay attention to him has helped a lot.

X is becoming more alert and has his eyes open more lately. As he becomes more interactive, I'm hoping K will come around.