It’s a double post day! I had to put a post about the joy of watching these two form a bond. This beautiful picture was taken during Courtney’s therapy session. Her team of therapists take her for walks to work on her holding an adults hand without dropping to the floor or trying to run away. Sometimes, Alyssa gets to join in on these walks. When this happens, the therapists try to work on socialization. One of the things they will have them do is hold hands. This isn’t as hard as you think it could be because Courtney LOVES the feel of Alyssa’s hands. She has since Alyssa was a newborn. Usually the challenge is Alyssa not wanting to hold Courtney’s hand. Today she was all for holding her big sister’s hand.

Two years ago, when I was pregnant with Alyssa, I was so worried about how Courtney was going to adjust to having a little sister. I was certain she would either hate her little sister or not even acknowledge her existence. I couldn’t have been more wrong! Courtney definitely doesn’t hate Alyssa and Alyssa is probably one of the few children that Courtney does actually acknowledge. If you watch carefully, you can see Courtney checking out what Alyssa is doing all day long. Courtney will be sitting playing on her iPad while Alyssa is running around and Courtney will look up occasionally to check on what she is doing. Courtney will have this look on her face like she’s thinking, “what is Alyssa getting into now”.  Then there are those moments where Alyssa will be sitting on the couch or on the floor and Courtney will just go up to her and touch her hand. For the most part, Alyssa is absolutely fine with these short interactions.

The most amazing part of their relationship though is how at 21 months old, I’m pretty sure  Alyssa has already figured out that there is something special about her big sister. As much as Courtney is her big sister, I think Alyssa is already catching on, that she is Courtney’s guardian angel. Am I imagining that she is already is catching on to this? There’s been numerous times where we are trying to leave the house and Alyssa will go try to get Courtney from whatever room she is in and bring her to the door. I have watched Alyssa try to spoon feed Courtney her cereal, and try to show Courtney how to use her talker. Then there is Alyssa’s bedtime routine. Alyssa has to say good night to us all and she always tries to give Courtney the biggest hug. Joe and I have said again and again, the best gift we gave Courtney was Alyssa.