Monday, January 08, 2007

Holding Hands

We have been so blessed that our boys really seem to have a natural affinity for one another. Ben has just adored his little brother from the day he was born and Kyle looks up to his brother in the sweetest ways.

When Kyle was born, Ben was so sweet and very interested in this little person that had grown in his mama's belly. He often wants to help us do things for Kyle. Early on he sat by Kyle's bassinet sometimes and let Kyle suck his finger to help him calm down. More recently Kyle dropped a piece of fruit on the floor. Before we knew what was happening, Ben had hopped up off his chair, picked up the fruit, blew it off enthusiastically and gave it back to Kyle. It was so sweet that we couldn't bring ourselves to take the fruit away from Kyle.

Kyle for his part, watches his brother with such big eyes. Our method for discipline involves asking the boys to sit and get their body under control when they are not listening or doing something inappropriate. After they've gotten their body under control, they can get up and we give them a big hug and discuss what happened. We probably started that around 18 months with Ben because before that, he didn't really know how to sit there on hIs own. Of course Kyle has been watching this happen since he was born and so we decided to give it a try a few weeks ago. Kyle was just giddy to go sit in the designated place, just like big brother did. And when we told him he could get up, he came running for his hug. It was so cute.

Yesterday I got to see one of the sweetest things I've seen in a long time. Mindy was out and I was watching the boys for the afternoon. After they both got up from afternoon quiet time we all had a great big wrestling match. The boys just squealed with glee as they piled on each other and on me. Then we all got a snack and sat down on the couch to watch a DVD about firemen. Ben was sitting next to me ad Kyle was on my lap. Both were just riveted by what was happening. Ben asked what and why quite frequently and Kyle chimed in often with his own "Whazzis?" About halfway through the video I looked down to see Ben and Kyle holding hands.




It was just so heartwarming. I just thank the Lord for the love that I see growing between our sons.