Mother Hen

Marty's Uncle Paul (Westhead) recently became the head coach of Oregon's Women's Basketball Team and they sent us these outfits for our kids to cheer for them in style! Go Ducks!

From the gate, Elise has been a very nurturing child. She has always loved doting on her baby dolls and stuffed animals - putting them to sleep, patting them on the back, rocking them and kissing them has been among her favorite games to play since she was walking - and she loves being "the mommy" whenever we play. So it's not really surprising that she has taken her big sister role with Lucas to a whole new level now that he is mobile. She has become almost oppressively attentive to Lucas, giving an abundance of guidance ("crawl over to me"), advice ("don't stand on that - that's dangerous!") and wisdom ("no Lucas, that's my car seat/book/bed/shoe/etc. You can't eat it.").


She's like a mama gorilla constantly picking nits out of baby's fur - fussing over him at every moment, redirecting him even when he needs no redirection and generally hovering over him like a mother hen. And of course, giving him lots and lots of adoring kisses and hugs. For the most part, he is fine with, and even enjoys, the smothering attention of his big sister. There are times though when the poor guy just wants to crawl around and explore the world without being picked up and dragged somewhere else. Oppressive though it can be, she is his biggest cheerleader and his biggest fan.




Here's a cute video of Ellie being both cheerleader and chastiser to Lucas when he was first starting a crawl a few weeks ago.