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Ila and Nicole have started to interact more with their new little brother.  At first they mostly ignored him, but would talk about him or order me to “put him in the swing.”

I’ve been expressing milk and bringing a bottle with me whenever I need to go out.  On Tuesday, I was out with my three youngest when Thomas became hungry.  When I got out the bottle, Ila wanted to feed him.  She really enjoyed feeding him and kept saying “I la you, Thomas.”  She asked several times if she could kiss his hair before giving him a kiss.  When I picked him up and started patting him on the back she started patting his back too.  Since then, whenever she sees me patting his back she says “I want hurt his back” which is her way of asking if she can pat his back too.  She also loves to bring him things that are his and she tells him that she loves him many times throughout the day.

Today I had Thomas in the bouncer when I heard Nicole saying something to him. I came over to see what she was doing just in time to catch her trying to pick him up.  Not knowing if she can hold him without dropping him, I grabbed them both in my arms and moved them over to the couch.  Thomas was starting to get upset so I told Nicole that I needed to help Thomas be happy.  She held onto him with both arms and said that she was going to help him be happy.  When I tried to take him from her, she wrapped her arms and legs around him and said that he was hers.  She held on with all her strength and it took some effort to extract him from her embrace.  I helped him clam down and got a pillow so that she could hold him more comfortably.  I let her feed him the remainder of a bottle that I had from earlier today.  The bottle didn’t have much milk in it and was gone quickly.  Nicole kept saying that he needed more milk.  As soon as I took him from her, she got my breast pump, lifted up her dress and said “help me put it on my bobum!*” 
*She says bobum which I think means bottom, but she uses the term for both her bottom and her stomach.  When I was pregnant I remember her saying something about getting the baby out of my “bobum” and proclaiming that she had a baby in her “bobum.”