Big Sister

I know I've mentioned how much Ali adores her baby brother. While of course there are moments of "No, Sammy, that's MINE!!!!" I'm being totally honest when I say she had no period of adjustment when he was born. She loved him from the moment she walked into the hospital room to meet him, and has continued to adore and look out for him ever since.

This morning, we had a super special Friday treat in that she got to watch a "long video" on the TV while she got dressed and ate breakfast. We still aren't letting Sam watch TV, so when I turned on her show and he crawled over to see what we were up to, Ali said, "Sammy isn't allowed to watch TV?"

"No, he's still too young to watch TV," I told her.

"What is he allowed to do?" she asked.

"He can play with toys!" I told her, trying to sell the idea that toys for him are just as much fun as videos for her.

She thought about that for a moment as her show started, and then got up and said, "I'm going to ask him if he wants to play with a ball. Then I'll come back and watch my show."

I absentmindedly said okay as I picked him up and brought him with me to the kitchen so that I could finish getting ready and he wouldn't be able to see the TV. I stepped into the bathroom to grab a brush, and when I came back, a small yellow ball had been set by Sam's left leg.

She was already back in the living room, watching her show. But first, first she had made sure that her baby brother had been taken care of, that he had something fun to do since he was still too little to share her fun activity.

It's no lie that having two kids this young and this close in age has its challenges. But I'm reminded every day--when she spontaneously hugs him, or wants to help wash him, or brings him a plastic ball so that he can have fun, too--how amazing it is to see their friendship develop. I'm so, so, so glad that they have each other, and that we didn't wait to give them the gift of this incredible relationship.