My Samuel

There is something about Samuel's expression in this photo that gets me. It was taken in that first hour that the 4 of us were together and it was one of the first times Jonathan initiated with Samuel versus Samuel initiating with Jonathan. First day of being a big brother wasn't all easy, but Jonathan is exposing a kindness in Samuel that I haven't seen before. 

Watching the two of them start to really gel yesterday, Day 2, was pretty amazing. It's not like they want to do everything together, they don't. But they're starting to get one another, and they steady one another. Jonathan is quite content in Samuel's presence and lights up when Samuel cracks a joke. Samuel reaches out to Jonathan at the most unexpected times to give him a kiss on the forehead or put a reassuring hand on Jonathan's shoulder. Even Saima who helps run the creche saw it. She took a photo of the 2 of them to put by Jonathan's bed. 

Jonathan still calls me Rebecca, but he's also calling me Mama about half of the time. (Not Mama Blanc.) The mama rejection from our first trip seems to have gone away. I catch him sneaking peaks at me with a big astonished smile on his face and once he knows I caught him, he gets kind of embarrassed but still hold my gaze. It's the sweetest thing! 

He picked up with Dodd right where he left off and frequently asks to be held by him. In a funny twist, besides Papa Blanc, he's now calling Dodd "Dog." He apparently thinks this is Dodd's name. He pronounces it with a long o like "Doag." Never one to miss out on a joke, Samuel has picked up on this and is also calling his father Dog. Dodd feigns being offended and then Samuel laughs and laughs.

And Samuel, Dodd and I are calling him "Samwell" like it's pronounced in Creole and so many other languages, but Jonathan picked up on the American pronunciation and goes back and forth between calling him Samwell and calling him Samuel like we say it at home. Toward the end of yesterday Jonathan began adding "me" to the front, as in "Me Samuel", or "My Samuel." Samuel LOVES that.

After a full day yesterday, exhausted, we all sat on the comfy sofa at the guesthouse and watched Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs waiting for the driver to come pick Jonathan up. Jonathan was snuggled on my left and Samuel was snuggled on my right and Dodd was next to Samuel with his arm around us all. 

It felt a lot like family.