The Sweetness of Brotherhood

I had a moment the other day.  I froze that moment in my mind to pull out on the days when my sons are older and perhaps might not be getting along so well.  I hope that never happens but let's be realistic here.

I had picked Adrian up from school and with nearly frozen fingers, I buckled both of them in their car seats, and dished out a snack for them to munch on for the ride home.  The snack of the day was Teddy Grahams.  I know, not the healthiest snack BUT those little packets are devilishly convenient.  And, to make it clear, they weren't the chocolate kind....they were the healthier choice of honey.

I buckled myself in the drivers seat and off we went.

Not too long after we started down the road did Finley finish his snack and start grunting for more.  I had only given him a couple of cookies as he already had had a snack on the way to pick Adrian up.  The child eats more than I do most days.  The mild complaints quickly escalated to a full on freak out.  Oh man.  There's nothing worse than driving during rush hour, in the middle of winter, with a very, very unhappy child.  (well, actually there's plenty worse but it's all relative right?)

So, first things first.  Distraction.  I pull down the DVD screen in the truck with the awesome movie Toy Story on it and turn up the volume.  He LOVES Toy Story.  That should definitely do it.

The screaming does not subside.  Not even a little.

I tried talking him out of it.  Yes.  That's right.  I tried talking my 15 month old out of a full on freak out session due to the clear fact that I'm starving him to death.

Nope.  Do you actually think he could hear me over the cacophony that was his own voice?  Not so much.

It never occurred to me to ask his brother, Adrian, to offer him one of his own Teddy Grahams.  For several different reasons.  The clear one being that anything and everything is Adrian's whether or not that's really true.  Sharing and 3 year olds....2 things that are very incompatible together.

I hear Adrian's voice over the shrieking monster that has become my usually calm son.

"Here Finley, you can have one of mine".

We were stopped at a red light, I looked in my rearview mirror in total awe to see my big boy's hand reach over to his baby brother with a sticky little Teddy Graham cookie in it.  Then I see my baby's pudgy hand reach out to his big brother's much larger hand and ever so gently take the cookie from him.

It becomes quiet.  The light turns green and my foot moves to the gas peddle as they continue to contentedly munch away on their snacks, their eyes glued to Buzz and Woody, like the explosion of emotions never even happened.

And I take in the moment to savour every last feeling of sweetness it holds.