Ramblings: Brotherly Love

Shrieks, screams, sobbing. These are the typical sounds I hear when the boys (Avery and Aidan) are "playing" together. Oh, and add to the list shouts of "Mi-i-i-i-ne" and "No, no, no!" They are at that difficult age where sharing is not part of either's plan. Aidan, who outweighs Avery by a good 4 pounds and is about an inch taller, is typically the stealer of anything tempting by strong-arming Avery...or sitting on him. Aidan is also the bigger whiner when something he wants is in Avery's possession and he cannot muscle it away from him.

Occassionally, there are screams of pain that originate when Avery tires of Aidan's pushing and pulling, and resorts to his learned defense mechanism: biting. When this happens, Aidan runs to find me, shows the tell-tale teeth marks, and says in his funny voice, "A-wee bite. A-wee bite." Translation: Avery bite. Avery bite. Then he reenacts the biting episode by pretending to bite his own arm and then pointing again to the teeth marks. Once Avery is appropriately disciplined, Aidan is miraculously cured and his screaming stops.

So, imagine my surprise when today I was in the kitchen and heard giggling, incoherent babbling, and the occassional "boo!" Now, these sounds are not uncommon. But usually are heard when the older kids are entertaining the boys, when they are playing solo, or when they are collaborating on destroying some prized possession of mine (or just playing in the toilet. Apparently, that is awesome and hilarious fun). But when I went to find out what was up, I found them actually playing together. Playing! No quotations around the word needed--they were getting along! Yea! Hope for the future of their relationship. They were chasing each other around their big play school bus activity center. One would stick his head out somewhere, shout "Boo!" and elicit a great laugh from the other.



But as I type this, they have reverted back to the hate part of their love/hate relationship and are both trying to squeeze themselves into a laundry basket I left by the stairs. Currently, Aidan (the heavy weight) has his shoulder planted squarly in Avery's face to keep him from getting in. He's doing this while climbing in himself, which is actually quite an impressive sight. Luckily, Maddie has intervened and distracted Avery with a big toy bucket to squeeze into--not as good as the basket, but unless he gains a few pounds in the next five minutes or Aidan gets close enough to latch his chompers into, the bucket will have to do.