A Brother's Love

Things Hero(7) can do for the baby:

• Get her in and out of the crib: Let down the side and lift her with ease
  
• Carry her: One arm under her bottom, one arm around her back, held close to his body
  
• Sing to her: Jesus Loves Me, Zaccheus, Living By Faith, all sung in a sweet, albeit off-key, voice
• Read to her: reads color/shape/animal books, asks her to repeat after him
  
• Play with her: Pat-a-cake, peekaboo, shaking toys until she's interested
  
• Give her a bottle: Prop up her head, make sure bottle doesn't clog
• Feed her snacks: Go to the cupboard, find appropriate snacks in their place
• Love her: A baby couldn't ask to be loved more by a big brother!
  

Things Awesome McAwesome(6) can do for the baby:

• Get her in and out of the crib: Nearly break the side of the crib while crying in frustration about not being able to get it down. As soon as mom comes to help, the side suddenly goes down. "Oh, that was easy!" he says.
• Carry her: Wrap arms around her from behind, mom waits for her to slide through, she braces herself to fall through
• Sing to her: Jesus Loves Me, etc. in his best monster voice, 'helps' her do the motions, mom bites her tongue to keep from telling him (again!) to be gentle
• Read to her: Tosses Hardy Boys, Johnny Tremain, etc. towards her
• Play with her: Shoot Nerf darts at her ("But, Mom, it wasn't her face, just her back and bottom!"), steamroll her legs
• Give her a bottle: Force her down, stick the bottle in her mouth, walk away
• Feed her snacks: Go to the pantry, stare at the snacks for several minutes, cry that he can't find them, put them on the counter, forget to give them to her
• Love her: A baby couldn't ask to be loved more by a big brother!

*All of the above are true events. They are not fabricated or exaggerated. No babies were permanently harmed in the making of this post.*