How's J Doing?

I keep forgetting that people are asking about how J is adjusting to the three little siblings in his life. He's actually doing really well with them. I know he spent a long time ASKING for a brother or sister, but I also know in his little mind he thought he was going to get a sibling his age to play with. I'm sure he has no idea what to think about having three little babies in his life. But he's very affectionate toward them. He likes to "pet" the babies (e.g. caress their soft heads) and he enjoys holding them and feeding them a bottle (Abby is still getting bottles all of the time and Ellie and Sam occasionally get a bottle still, though it's less common... but they all only get breastmilk regardless of the delivery method). I've never posted a picture of J, because I've been wary of his mother coming across this site, but at this point, I'm not sure that's such a huge danger, so I'll post one picture, with the caveat that it may not stay here forever:



That's J feeding Ellie about two weeks ago. It was the first time I'd let him hold a baby (and we were RIGHT THERE balancing her) and he loved every second of it. He has a particular fondness for Sam, but adores his sisters as well. He is generally respectful of their need for quiet and peace, though he sometimes forgets, but that's to be expected. He is very, very good with them. We are definitely seeing adjustment issues in less direct ways, of course. Our bedroom is downstairs and the babies are with us, and his bedroom is upstairs. This never bothered him before, but suddenly he gets lonely when it's bedtime and he's sad that no one is there to sleep with him. He's started claiming to have more bad dreams (but he comes down complaining of the bad dreams long before he's had a chance to fall asleep) and he makes many more claims of monsters and ghosts in his room than he used to, all in the name of stalling at bed time. He's slightly more clingy than he used to be, and doesn't enjoy having play time by himself the way he used to. He craves having someone to play with him, though it doesn't have to be me or Seth... it just has to be someone. He apparently requires a little extra TLC at school and has a little more difficulty reigning in his energy levels than usual.

But basically, there's nothing we didn't expect. He loves the babies. He's adjusting, but not without some bumps. He's totally normal. We are very, very proud of him and we do our best to give him lots of extra hugs and kisses every day. He's a very sensitive kid.