holding a chubby little hand

One of the sweetest things that Brody does is when I ask if he wants to hold my hand- he always does. I love the feeling I get when I get to hold that tiny, chubby, little hand. Even when Jeff is pushing him in the stroller, I'll sometimes walk beside the stroller, holding hands with my precious little blonde haired toddler.

One thing that I have learned about Brody is that he is very sensitive in the mornings (and in life in general, haha). But especially in the mornings, he needs everything to be just right. He doesn't like his diaper changed right away, so I hold him on my shoulder, sit in the rocking chair, and cuddle him for sometimes up to a half hour, depending on the morning. He just likes it. I don't complain either because 7:15 comes quickly on some mornings, so just sitting down while snuggling my growing babe is a nice time for me as well. Then I change his diaper, and we go into the living room (always with his two favorite blankets in tow) and watch a cartoon. We hold hands then too. :) Until little Bonnie wakes up and joins us. I just love holding this boy's little hand.

The past week Jeff has been putting Brody to sleep at night. I'll be honest, it has been a nice break. Usually Bonnie gets hungry around 7:00 each night, and since Brody's bedtime is 7:15, Jeff takes over on Brody duty. Jeff is a great Dad though, I must add, and is awesome at putting his little man to bed. Tonight though, Jeff had had enough of little Brody. Brody had not only puked all over (and I mean ALL over) the kitchen floor, he had broken a vase, and he had spilled a whole glass of (thank goodness) water all over the couch, all within the half hour before bedtime. Bonnie had finished eating before Brody's bedtime, so I took over and did bedtime duty. As I sat there, rocking little Brody with his bottle, I asked (I always have to ask first, or he won't let me) if I could hold his hand. He let me hold his slightly bottle chilled hand, and we stayed like that for the next ten minutes, hand in hand- me singing, him becoming drowsy in my arms. At that moment I realized how much I had missed rocking my little baby to sleep at night. While the break had been good, I truly love this nightly ritual.