The Bonds of Brotherhood

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Duke and Lilly are so cute together.  Unsurprisingly, she adores him.  Everything he does is fascinating, and just watching him go about his regular business reduces her to belly laughs.  The surprising thing is how much he really seems to like her.  Of course, she hasn't gotten too bad about wrecking his toys, and she can't say no yet when he wants to use her stuff, but really I've been absolutely amazed at how he loves her.  He loves to get "my sister" in the mornings, and wants to help feed her breakfast.  He brings her toys from his room when he doesn't want her to grab his stuff, and will pick things up that she's dropped. 

Today there was a red, heart-covered present on the kitchen counter when he got up from his nap.  "That's a Valentine present!"  Yes, for Baby Lilly.  "Happy Valentines, Baby Lilly."  That's sweet, but she's not in here.  (as he's running down the hall to his room where she's hanging out) "I will hug her and tell her 'Happy Valentines Baby Lilly!'"

Just before this, while he was sleeping, she and I were playing on the floor.  Which means she was sitting and I was looking at her.  She was holding my hands and pulled herself up into a standing position and said "Butha".  (well, it sounded like that)  I am convinced that one of the reasons she will not roll is that she is just waiting to walk so she can catch up with that brother of hers.

In the bath, I got her hair wet and he started laughing, squealing "Her hair looks like weeds!" 
"Really?  I guess it does.  Where did you see weeds like that?"
"Umm.." And then he spouts off something equally random.
Yet he says the exact same thing every time they take a bath together. "Mommy, her hair looks like weeds!"  I began investigating what he was talking about, trying to prompt him with questions about weeds in the yard, or a picture in a book.  Maybe something he saw at school?  Finally the questioning paid off: "Umm, they look like tea leaves!"
We had been talking about tea and how it was made and had made some of our own with loose leaf.    We smelled some different kinds (we have similar tastes in tea, or the odor of, it turns out) and I let him see what they were like dry and then what they looked like after. And he's right, there is a resemblance.