playing ball

Every day I am so thankful for the beautiful relationship the boys have with their baby sister.  Some people think that the further apart in age children are, the less likely they are to be close.  I completely disagree!  To watch Sam or Luke interact with Olivia is such a beautiful thing.  Her face lights up, arms and legs move wildly, and a huge grin appears on her face the second she receives attention from one of her boys.
It's usually Sam who pays so much attention to Olivia- he walks right up to her, sits or lays beside her, and talks to her in an animated voice, tickles her, touches her foot or her belly and he grins from ear to ear.  If I could describe the look he gives her in one word it would be joy.  His teacher, Ms. Swing, said that next to the word "adoration" in the dictionary there should be a picture of Sam looking at Olivia.  What a treasure! 
Luke enjoys Olivia too but doesn't spend quite as much time with her right now; he is pretty busy himself :)  But the past two nights have been so much fun watching them play ball together.  Luke sits across from her and gives her the ball and says "Can I have it? Throw the ball, Olivia" and then makes the sign for ball- all on his own.  He is also trying to make up signs for "Can I have" and that's so cute!  When she tosses it to the side or hugs it he just laughs and laughs, which then makes her giggle and kick her legs with excitement or clap.  Their laughter is the best sound in the world!  Luke sat for about 45 minutes with her last night and about 30 minutes with her tonight, just playing and laughing and talking to her over and over again.  Sam joined in the fun and it was so fun to watch Olivia soak in all of the attention and love.
What a perfect way to end the day, with a smile on everyone's faces!

I took some video and photos with my phone and will have to figure out how to transfer them to this blog :)