Little Brother

Having been home nearly three weeks it is hard to know where to begin!! I can honestly say that God is good and things are going swimmingly. I suppose I should just ramble because if I had written this when it was happening then at least it would be in some kind of order. Now, I will just have to write things as I remember them. How annoying. *grin* Me, who loves order, having to do things in a disorganized fashion!

There was no adjustment time for our children. They simply became brother and sister upon meeting. Cooper adores the girls. He has to hug them or kiss them goodnight each day.

Cassidy, Colt, and Dane are their big brothers, and Cooper and Austin are their playmates.


I looked outside one day and saw this cute little scene. I have no idea what they were doing, but it appears they were just having some brother/sister time. Too sweet.

Lunch With Big Bro

Ray taught the girls to say 'bro'. It is so cute when Mesai says, "Thanks Bro." She has a rolled 'r' sound that I hope she doesn't lose.

Watching Dane Do His Science Study of a Log

Briton is certainly still my ‘baby’. I try to remember he is 3 ½ but with lack of speech and being so little, it is hard to remember this. He has not really regressed, but there have been some small challenges.

His speech seems to have gone backwards a bit. I really don’t think it is as good as it was when we saw the speech therapist two months ago. We are due for another meeting in a month and I am sure she will say he has not progressed. The odd thing is that I have never had a child regress upon a new sibling entering the house. But bringing in a baby might be different to bringing in two children.

Gadisae Making Briton Her "Baby"

Abandoned "Baby"

Gadisae has realized that Briton is younger than her. I am not sure if it is his boyish immaturity, or his lack of speech, but she decided one day that he was her baby. She buckled him into the unused stroller. I forgot their little game and later I went out of the house for something and I found him all by himself, buckled in and waiting patiently. I have no idea how long since she left her baby alone! *grin* But he wasn't fussing.

As far as relationships with Briton go: Until recently, the girls didn’t seem to ‘see’ him as a little brother. He was just there. Cooper and Austin and the big boys were definitely to be played with. Austin was simply there. Quite possibly because he was not useful in his play and didn’t do things ‘right’.

I have taken time this week to play it up for Mesai. When he does things that are clearly 3 year old little brother behaviours I will tell her, “Little Brother,” and say it in a way that elicits a grin from her. Today when he came out of the bathroom with one sock on one foot but the other foot had a very holey sock on with the whole of his toes hanging out the hole, I pointed this out to Mesai. She giggled and I asked her if she could help, “Little Brother.” She willingly looked for a sock without a hole and one that actually fit him.

Most days I put something pretty on the girls heads. Something to make them feel girlish. A friend of ours came by and gave the girls each a bagful of hair pretties. One day I put on the new headbands, and Briton wanted to wear one too....

He Thought He Was So Pretty

Just One of the Girls *grin*

Yesterday at lunch, when we were at the picnic table, he had pushed his spoon’s handle under the edge of the plywood that lies on top of the table and had his spoon bowl facing himself. He put a piece of chicken in the spoon and tried to eat out of it that way. Mesai looked at him and this time, instead of looking at him like he was odd, she smiled at me, as if to say, “Little brothers. Aren’t they funny.”

It is nice to see that she is starting to realize that he is just a little boy, and she is likely 6, therefore she is quite a bit bigger than him, and therefore needs to understand that he doesn’t always do it right. So there is real progress there. It wasn’t ever really a problem, but I wanted her to look at him like a little brother to love and help, and not just a neighbour who was visiting.

Then today, at lunchtime he came brought his bowl to the kitchen after he had eaten. He had strapped a leg protector from hockey around his neck and back and had another one around one leg. The boys had been wearing the different gear in odd ways the day before as 'armour' so they could have sword fights. I guess this was the remnants of that imaginative play!

Well, as he walked to the house with his bowl he decided to put on a show. He shut his eyes, and marched with his funny little suit of armour and a silly grin. Well, you should have heard the peels of laughter from the girls. Of course, that only fueled Briton's entertainment act that much more!


After naptime today, Ray had to go out to get some concrete mix as he is putting in the fence on the sportscourt. Briton had just woken up and wanted to go with Ray. I made him stay home, since Ray was in a hurry. A little later, I went into the kitchen to see where he was and found this 'sad' scence:


Click on it and see his sorry little tears. Well, he didn't make a big fuss. Just quietly climbed up and sat on the garbage can and looked so sad. When I entered the room and saw this I said, "What's up?" Gadisae, who was standing near him, said, "Daddy."

Though he doesn't have more than a word or two in a sentence, Briton must have said Daddy, and Gadisae pegged what was wrong. She looked so concerned, like a big sister, to see him so sad. It was very sweet.