The cutest thing to watch is Maia smile or laugh at something Keana’s doing. Sometimes it’s dancing, or jumping around, or sometimes it’s a funny noise. It really makes you realize how important it is that they have each other. Keana loves kissing and nuzzling Maia and loves having Maia grab her finger or other things she hands to her. Of course the fun quickly fades when Maia grabs a toy of Keana’s that’s too close and Keana gets upset and rips the toy out of Maia’s hand. This is where the parenting challenges come into play. We don’t want Keana to feel like we’re always riding her about how she interacts with Maia, but at the same time, we want her to respect Maia’s space and not hurt her. Of course we’re trying to avoid any sort of rivalry too, so there’s really a lot to think about in a single response to situations like these.

At this phase in life, Keana is relentless with testing boundaries so Sarah and I are trying to be consistent with how we each handle things, which is especially challenging since I’m mostly out of the picture during the week. Sarah and I carve out time at night to check in on life in general but also to re-unify our front. I think in general Sarah does an amazing job, day in and day out, so I definitely look to her for advice.