Shopping

I forgot to tell one of the sweetest stories so far!!

I took the boys shopping on Thursday to find a soccer ball and cleats for each. They were so excited!!! As soon as we were home the boys were in their cleats and outside playing soccer. Pretty quickly, BoyOne came stomping inside, visibly upset. He showed me his ball. It had some scuffs on it from being played with. I tried to show him that when you play with a ball, that is what happens. He was very upset.

His brother had seen him go inside, unhappy. He followed him in to see what the problem was. He saw the scuffs on the ball and after BoyOne threw the ball down and stomped upstairs to his room, picked it up and also went upstairs. I didn't follow, assuming that they could use some boy time, brother bonding or something. Then, I heard the bath water start. I ran upstairs and found BoyTwo filling the tub with water, the ball in the tub. He proceeded to cover it in soap and carefully wash and dry it and then take it into BoyOne.

Watching little brother care for big brother was so sweet. BoyTwo tries soooo hard to keep up with all those big boys. He tries so hard to be cool and tough. He wants so badly to impress BoyOne. He just wants his love and friendship. Sometimes I get so frustrated at BoyOne when he is mean to his brother. Why can't he just be nice to him? Good grief. He's just a little boy. It is heart breaking to watch BoyTwo try to be so grown up when he should just be playing and learning to read and ride a bike. The last thing he needs is his brother being mean. BoyOne is not always mean, thank heavens. There are times when he is just the best brother ever. I wish I could convince him to be that kid all the time.