Best Brother Friend
Our home schedule has changed temporarily until my back issue gets resolved but that gives me more time to spend with my little nuggets. My Big Boy is in preschool every day and Lil Bit only goes every other day. Yesterday, Lil Bit started getting really excited the minute I mentioned that it was time to go and get Bubba from school. He took off running through the house like I was about to force feed him broccoli but instead of shrieking in fear he was happily chanting, “Go get Bubba, Go get Bubba“.
So instead of referring to this phase in Lil Bit’s life as something negative like the ‘terrible twos’ I prefer to paint it in a more positive light. Giving this period a clever name that makes me smirk instead of frown when handling these behavior flare ups is one of my little positive twists. Lil Bit has been exploring his ‘period of independence’ for quite some time now which has been uniquely focused on his shoes. He wants to pick out his shoes and he wants to put his shoes on with absolutely no assistance. That is until the tongue of the shoe inevitably gets in the way of his chubby little baby foot and his frustration out ways his desire for independence resulting in him asking for help. We have been stuck in this mode for a while now. This independence streak is not only designated for putting shoes on but for taking shoes off and just about any other simple task that could be done quickly but now, well now things take much longer.
The phrases that I most often hear from Lil Bit are, “no want to“ when we ask him to do something or “nooo, I do it myself” when we try to speed things along. That is unless my Big Boy is helping Lil Bit. Oh, it’s a completely different story when we’re trying to leave and Bubba helps Lil Bit with his shoes. Their conversation is so polite and sweet with each other. They sound as though they’re peppering one another with questions the way their voices go up at the end of their sentences, “thank you Bubba”…“you’re welcome Baby Brodder”. It’s adorable to listen to them speak. My Big Boy is very much assuming the role of protector. If Lil Bit is crying in another room Big Boy will run in very concerned and want to know, “what’s wrong with my Baby Brodder”. If the Lil Bit falls down Big Boy will go to him and rub his back, hug him and kiss him, he’ll try to sooth him and tell him it’s okay. They love each other so very much!
It’s so wonderful to watch my Big Boy hold Lil Bit’s hand outside so he won’t fall down when we walk up to the house, “Here Brodder I’ll help you”. “Thank you Bubba.” If one has a blanket he will share with the other. If one has a drink he will ask for a drink for his brother. If one of them is drinking out of Momma’s cup (for some reason the water in Momma’s cup tastes better) with the neat straw then they will take turns. Toys, yeah toys not so much they’re far from perfect, but they have a sibling bond already at such a young age.
As the Lil Bit and I pull up to the preschool to pickup Big Boy the excitement is at an all time high. One of the assistant teachers brings my Big Boy out to the car and I almost get out to help them because it looks as though someone has been doing some major arts and crafts at school. Between jackets, sweaters, a lunchbox, and all of the construction paper their hands are overflowing. She gets him settled into the seat and buckled up but I can tell that he is excited about something. She’s about to shut the door when Big Boy asks if she would hand him his bear. I can hear some rustling going on behind me. The he asks for his other bear and she starts digging around in the floor board again. Okay, now I’m starting to get worried because we didn’t send him with bears or with money for bears so what is he doing with bears. As I turn around he says, “Here Baby Brodder, I made this bear for you. Momma, I made a bear for my best Brodder friend.” Then the Lil Bit said “Thank you Bubba.”
…my heart melted
