1 is better than 2!

Me and W in the morning, lots of cuddles.

For the last three days I have had 2 kids. I had W as usual and I had his "cousin" L. L isn't really W's cousin, he's J's mother's cousin's son (or something to that effect) but since L's mom is close in age to J they grew up as cousins. Therefor L, being 6 months younger than W, is W's cousin.

Scoot, scoot, scoot!

It's crazy what difference 6 months does at this age. W is almost 19 months now and L just turned 1 on December 25th. I know W was always ahead of the curve and he was pretty strong and sturdy right from the get go and I don't remember him ever being so fragile and weak as L is. L can stand up but he just doesn't, when we try his legs just gives way under him and he sits right back down again. He doesn't crawl but scoots around on his bum, which is very cute actually, especially when W is copying him and they scoot alongside each other.

Holding hands while watching TV.

Having L around also made me realize how much personality our little ones have right from the get go and how different they are.
I guess you can say I've been blessed with the most awesome and fantastic little boy in the whole wide world. He is strong, he has cried but it was always for a reason and never for any real extended period or time, he's funny, he's a quick learner. He is good with food, people, animals and other kids. He's easy to bring along with you, he even handles trans-Atlantic flights with stop-overs (he's a pain but I've seen a lot worse on those flights). He sleeps good (knocking hard on wood), he loves reading and he's very cute.

I'll make a great older brother one day. I can do the feeding of the baby already!

L is not the same as W at all. It's somewhat weird the way he holds himself and what he can and cannot do. It's like he's developed all of his fine motor skills but skipped over the gross motor skills. He doesn't hold on to things or people for one which is what I think is the root to why he's not standing up. I mean he's not gonna go from sitting to standing without holding on to something. He doesn't seem to be able to get up to sitting from lying down either but I can be wrong about that one, I found that it was just easier to help him then to let him cry long enough to see if he could do it by himself. Now I'm sure he's probably gonna start doing the standing and the walking soon enough, certain kids are just late, but what baffles me is how good his fine motor skills are. That kid can handle a spoon like an adult. W can't handle the spoon as well as L can and he's got 6 months on him. In another way it's weird because L clearly has the brain of a one year old but he lacks the skills to perform the tasks he want's to do, so he gets frustrated and whines and cries.

Playing in the tub. Splish splash!

This is obviously not his fault, since he's just a tiny little baby still, but it makes it less pleasant to care for him when he whines. It didn't really help that he was with us for 3 hours longer than originally planned on the last day and that W had a fever of 39.9°C (that's 103.8°F).

Standing up with a bit of help...

Poor little thing has really dry skin too but I showed his mom what products we use on W and after 3 days his skin was so much better so I thought I'd share my skin care advice with you too.

If you or your baby has dry or sensitive or irritated skin you should use A-Derma. It's a French company and they use Rhealba oats in their cleansers and creams and that stuff is great. For W I use the soap free gel cleanser for hair and body in the A-Derma pediatrics line, then I moisturise his entire body and face with A-Derma Exomega cream and if he gets any kind of diaper redness or rash or very ry cheeks for instance, I use the A-Derma pediatrics Dermalibour stick on it and it's gone in 24 hours. Here in Quebec you can buy all those products conviently at Jean-Coutu.

W with a very high fever, resting on the floor.

Now I'm off to prep for dinner.