Day in the snow with Andrew's HERO, his Daddy

First of all, Happy New Year everyone! For Andrew, 2010 started off a little rough. Andrew and Robert went to our next door neighbour's New Year's Eve party and had a wonderful time. I was feeling a little drained and decided at the last minute, to stay in with Ryan. Unfortunately, Andrew woke up the next day with a high fever, complete with cold sweats, and subsequent vomitting. It continued on so much that we made a visit to the ER by Sunday morning, just to be on the safe side. On a side note, we were yet again extremely impressed with the French health care system. Andrew was examined, given a prescription, said prescription filled and we were all back home within an hour and a half! As it turned out, our next door neighbour's 20 year-old son had contracted the exact same bug and was so ill that they called the doctor in for a home visit at 2:00am the following night. Anyway, we decided to take extra precautions so that Ryan would not get the same thing, Robert took over "Andrew duty" and I kept Ryan as distant as possible. The love and tenderness on Robert's part, in the way he cared for Andrew, yet again warmed my heart. For three days, he slept beside Andrew in his bed, continually cleaned up the vomit, showered with him several times daily to reduce the fever when the Tylenol wasn't doing its thing, finding creative ways to get him to take his meds and drink enough fluids, and even brought his flash light and lap top into Andrew's room to be by his side at naptime so he'd be there if he threw up again.
Almost from birth, Andrew has been a Mommy's boy, almost always choosing Mommy to do whatever it is for him or with him. However, in the last few months, Daddy has become Andrew's little hero. It's probably a combination of several factors, one being that more of my direct attention has been aimed at feeding or soothing baby Ryan, but we have also made a huge effort to make the adjustment of another baby as seamless as possible for Andrew, planning extra special activities for Andrew and Robert (zoo, Marineland, Fun City, farms, playgrounds, and the most recent, a day in the Alps as seen in the photo above) so that he has not felt "left out" in any way. I am happy to say that I think it has worked as there continues to be not ounce of jealousy or resentment of the new addition and he showers or rather, smothers Ryan with hugs and kisses daily! Anyway, over this time, Robert and Andrew have developed a very tight bond, which brings me immense joy. When there was a time that Andrew wanted no part of Daddy putting him to bed, or even helping him with a pee or poo, now Mommy is not invited! However, there are times when it may go a little far...the other night when we were cleaning up the toys before bed, we were in the midst of "parking the cars" in his toy garage and I got reprimanded for not doing it the way Daddy does it!