WILL THEY BE FRIENDS?

Nicholas and Catherine seem to get along pretty well... with the exception of baths I suppose (Please see above). For the most part, they function pretty independently, but her eyes light up whenever he is talking to her, telling her jokes, or playing his instruments. He, on the other hand, does not seem to know what to make of her. He knows she is not going anywhere, and I think he is beginning to realize that that's not half bad.

The second kid is a big life changer... especially if kid #1 is at an age when he/she is quite independent (eating, toileting, entertaining him/herself). Our goal was for Nicholas to have someone beyond his parents to whom he could look for comfort and companionship and with whom he could argue about taking us in versus placing us in a nursing home one day (thank you Dave D for pointing out this virtue of having kids).

We recently started to put Catherine down for bed at night in a crib in Nicholas' room. Tonight, she woke up and cried out. Our instinct was to go up and comfort her, but we waited. Within seconds, we heard Nicholas' voice on the baby monitor trying to comfort her. Her crying stopped, and she went back to bed (You cannot make this stuff up, people).

I think Nicholas and Catherine will really come to love each other and will help each other survive us as parents. I do hope though that they'll be friends, too, because it is so obvious to me how cool they are and how much there is to love in each of them!