Brothers

Every day I am in awe of the fact that we have two boys that are biological brothers. Throughout some of our adoption training and in hearing stories of multiple adoptees it seemed that one major factor in some adoptee's life had to do with missing out on a specific connection with their adoptive family. Yes, they loved their adoptive families and felt and experienced love and acceptance in return, but not until they became adults and had children of their own did they truly experience a kinship or special bond with their flesh and blood. We are blessed that our boys will have that connection their entire lives and I hope we can nurture and protect their relationship as they grow.

Since bringing Aaron home, Noah has slowly begun to sense he does not have our full attention 24/7. It has not been a rough transition but still at such a young age, he understands there has a been a shift in our family.

Noah's very first reaction to seeing Aaron had more to do about the pacifier in the baby's mouth than anything. Next, it was his blankie. His first "brother" lesson is obviously about sharing and what is his versus what is Aaron's. Let's just say we're learning. Noah is pretty sneaky and fast when it comes to snatching up Aaron's pacifiers.

I'm excited to see Aaron develop in the coming months to see what physical traits he may take on and compare them to Noah. Already we can tell that they are built differently in a few ways. Noah was and is very stocky and Aaron is slender with long, long fingers and toes. He's also a shade darker than Noah with a lot more hair than Noah had even at 6 months old - and it's dark.

For now Noah likes to point at him when we're talking about Baby Aaron and he likes it when Aaron sneezes. He'll even laugh if he hears Aaron crying. Such a nice brother. And when prompted he'll give Aaron a forehead kiss (meaning Noah leans in with his forehead expecting to get a kiss).

I'm hoping that soon I will get a good brother picture but Noah is unknowingly determined to make sure that doesn't happen. He's too busy running and trying to climb on things.