Jacob, this is your (and your brother's) life

Today was the much anticipated greeting of Jacob and Thomas. When Yaya picked up Jacob from school, she told him that he was going home to see his brother. But by the time he got home, I think he forgot. When we opened the door and Jacob saw his brother for the first time, his face lit up. He looked like a kid on Christmas. The next couple of minutes he went through a flurry of thoughts and mental processes. He said things like, "Thomas is not in your tummy, Mommy" and "Let's see him walk" and "he's crying" and "He needs to nurse, Mommy and my personal favorite, "Don't worry Thomas, I love you so much." I have video of all that, but the best video is what happened next. Brothers side-by-side, Thomas kicked Jacob and Jacob laughed the kind of belly laugh as if to say "well, he's family."





It has been an interesting day for us all. I find myself interacting with Jacob from a completely different angle. Rather than treating him based on his incompetencies he now looks competent, even skillful to me. He came home singing the days of the week in Spanish (it took us a few listens to hear what he was saying considering he now knows more Spanish than us). Jacob looks huge, and that is reflected in the protectiveness he already has for his little brother, as if a security guard for a high-profile celebrity. Then again, after emails being sent out en masse from Our Saviors Lutheran Church, the Bishop of the Grand-Canyon synod, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, and Trinity Lutheran Alameda, combined with the coverage on facebook, this blog, and picture messages, Thomas is kind of a celebrity. We have had a great first night together. We await the arrival of Ma and Grayson, and Jacob has a couple more days of Christmas parties at preschool before being home for two weeks.

Being a father of two has the disadvantage of never being alone, but it also has the wonderful advantage of never being alone. I can't say how thrilled I am to be this proud Papa.

OK, one more picture, just because he's so cute.