The Hagen Family: Better Together

I've had a few emotional moments this summer where I've seen kids playing together on playgrounds and been a little sad for Tyler that he doesn't have anyone to play with. Now he doesn't really mind. And he is learning to go up to kids and ask to play. But watching other kids together has been making me so thankful that Carsten and Tyler have each other. Obviously they can't play together yet. But soon I'm sure they will be great friends. I'm not wishing any days away, but I am excited for when they are able to run around and play together at playgrounds! They already adore each other, so they are well on their way. This is one of the reasons I said that I love their ages right now. Carsten is big enough to respond to Tyler. And Tyler loves getting a reaction from him. He loves making Carsten smile and laugh.

At bedtime one of the cutest things is their goodnight hugs. Tyler likes it when we stand Carsten up on the floor so he can hug him standing up. And every single time Carsten reaches his arms out and puts them around Tyler's waist. It's adorable.

Most of the time they are very sweet together. But we are already getting some glimpses of sibling rivalry. When we're reading stories Tyler complains if Carsten's foot touches him. He often says things like, "Carsten, stop crying!" or, "Carsten, move!" And we constantly see Tyler running away and yelling, "He's going to spit up on me!" Yesterday he ran away saying, "I need a paper Kleenex! He got a baby kiss on me!" He also takes toys away from the poor boy all the time, telling him, "No Carsten, don't chew on that!" I didn't know two year olds tattled already. But he tells on Carsten for putting things in his mouth all the time. The most heartbreaking "sibling" moment was a few days ago. We were sitting at lunch and Carsten was on my lap. I gave him a bunch of little kisses and Tyler (an already emotional and very tired Tyler) noticed and his little eyes filled up with tears and he said, "I want kisses too." It broke my heart to bits and almost made me cry. But here is a note to future Tyler: For the record, I give you hundreds of kisses everyday. And you wipe them off like an embarrassed 12 year old 95% of the time. And when I ask you for kisses your most common response is "I not have any kisses. They blowed away." But I give lots of them to you anyway. And you consistently wipe them off. The only time you really want kisses is when you are looking for ways to stall at bedtime and reasons to come out of your room when you should be sleeping. So if you are not getting enough kisses from me, it is not from my lack of trying. I would give you kisses all day long if you let me. :-)

Anyway, the point of this post is that these two are adorable together. And I am beyond thankful to have two such sweet little boys who love each other so much.