Too Much Love-Love

OMGoodness, Marco loves his baby brother so much... sometimes it's too much.  We appreciate the fact that he's concerned for Jonas' well being, wants him to be happy and wants to love on him, but the problem is that Marco's love is not always gentle.

We're still trying to teach Marco how to be gentle and "nice-nice" when it comes to handling his brother... well, any child for that matter.  He's not a softie... Marco is a rough kid.  You know the kind, gets his hand stuck in a door and just yanks it out and continues playing... gets pushed by another kid and gets up to run to the other side.  He's also a pusher, stealer and hitter- thank God he's not a biter too!

But when it comes to his brother, Marco wants nothing but the best.  When Jonas cries, Marco dances on his tip-toes and goes "Oh, Oh" while pointing at him... in a way, telling us "DO SOMETHING!".  If Jonas is at his level, he tries to stick his paci in his mouth... granted, sometimes he misses and it hits Jonas in the eye, but at least his intentions are good.  He will sometimes try to pick Jonas up from the swing when we're not looking and he KNOWS this is not allowed.  He gets in trouble every single time, but we know he does it just because he wants to comfort his brother.

Now that I'm trying to let Jonas have more tummy time and floor play, I'm more scared then ever.  I literally have to sit in front of Jonas and protect him from Marco.  Marco wants to play with him, but I don't think he understands that he's WAY bigger than him and can hurt him.  He leans down to give him "love-love" (which to Marco is open mouth on face while yelling "AWWWWW").  First off, the big yell always frightens Jonas and secondly, sometimes Marco loses his balance and falls on top of him!  Just to illustrate how much bigger Marco is, see exhibit A.  This is why we're terrified of Marco falling on top of him... my dad says Marco is big like Shrek!

Exhibit A

This one's classic.  The other day, I was teaching and Mauricio was cooking while taking care of the boys.  Jonas was in the swing crying and Marco was playing.  All of a sudden the crying came to a complete stop and when Mauricio looked over, he saw Marco taking good care of his brother.  Marco was letting Jonas suck on his sippy cup that was filled with lemonade!  It's things like this.  How can we be mad at Marco when he's doing what he thinks is nice and helpful?!

Marco also thinks he's now a baby expert.  Since he's got a little brother, who he helps with, he should be able to help with ALL babies.  We encounter problems everywhere we go with Marco wanting to love and help other people's babies.  He wants to be sure they're covered up with a blanket and paci in mouth... then he tries to give them his "love-love".  (Remember how Marco gives his love).  It freaks out other mothers... and I don't blame them!  I'd be pretty freaked out too if some random snotty kid came over and started getting his grimy hands all over my newborn!  I would look at his mother and think, "have you no control?!".  The answer is... sometimes.  Sometimes I have control.

So for now, we're going to continue to encourage Marco to love-love his brother and help with what he can handle.  We're going to continue to teach him to be gentle and guide him through boundaries and limitations.  But, in the mean time, hide your newborns, because Marco's got enough love to go around!