He's a little protective...

James loves his baby sister. Now this does not mean that he is without jealousy because that certainly is not the case, but, jealousy aside, he loves her.

See, as soon as Andy and I found out we were pregnant with Samantha we began to talk to James about having a sibling. Then, shortly after we found out we were having a girl, "the baby" became "Samantha." We talked about her a lot. We read books about babies and siblings. We made her such a part of our lives before she was even here that James seemed little phased when he FINALLY met her. He quickly put two and two together to know that SHE was who we were talking about all along. Well, in our effort to make James comfortable to having a sister, and trying to ease his adjustment to not being "the only one"...we may have also instilled some protectiveness.

For example, not too long ago we were in Target, and a little boy and his mom rode past our cart. The little boy pointed to Samantha and said, "Look mom, a baby." James then said (in a not so nice voice), "No, my baby Sisser. My Manfa (Samantha)" I then proceeded to explain to James that the little boy wasn't going to take her...he was just looking at her.

Then, this past weekend I got to visit with my cousin and her little boy Jack who is 9 and a half months old. The children were playing in the floor, and Samantha had her crinkle book (that she absolutely loves). Upon hearing it Jack quickly became interested in it (as children do) and he decided he wanted to see it. Well, as soon as Samantha discarded it to the floor, he was all over it. James promptly walked over and took the book back and said, "No, manfa's book" and handed the book back to Samantha! Then James and I had another talk about how Jack wasn't taking Samantha's book, he simply wanted to see and play with it too.

What can I say? He's a little protective...

I hope this is an indication of how he'll help us fend off the boys when they come knocking on our door... :o)