That's what brothers are for

Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero.

Ever since Eli knew I was pregnant, he insisted it was a sister, and he honestly could not wait for her to be born. Toward the end of my pregnancy he would ask me everyday when his sister was going to be born. I thought it was so cute that he was excited to have a sibling, but at the same time I thought he is NOT going to be so excited when she is actually born and he realizes it isn't just about him anymore. I couldn't be more wrong. I honestly don't think there was one day that Eli has been jealous of his sister. He was never overly loving of her, but he was also never mean to her when she was an infant. He would make sure he gave her a kiss, or feed her, or hold her for half a second everyday, but not much more than that. I could tell that he really truly loved her and loved having a sister. In fact when she was only a couple weeks old he kept telling me he wanted "another one." at first I wasn't sure what he meant, so I asked him, "Do you want a different sister, or just another sister so that you have two?" And he said, "I want two." He has also asked me a couple times when we are going to the hospital to pick up his other sister. (If only it was that easy).

Lately though he finally has been acting like a big brother- teasing her, taking her stuff, and just bugging her. I thought maybe he has finally decided having a little sister wasn't such a neat thing. And then today he pulled through and showed me that deep down he really isn't the men big brother, he is the protective big brother.

We were at church and sacrament had just ended. One of the cute young women in our ward came over and took Hallie from me. Then I started talking to another lady in our ward, and wasn't really paying attention to Eli, or Hallie for that matter. All the sudden I hear Eli sobbing. I say, "Eli what is wrong?" I couldn't really understand him. So I ask him to stop crying and tell me again. He said with big tears in his eyes and pointing out the door, "She is stealing my sister." I then noticed that the girl who had Hallie had walked out into the hall. Poor Eli was just devastated thinking that she was walking away with Hallie never to return again. (I think I might have instilled total fear in my son that everyone is out to take him and his sister. Maybe I should mellow out a little on telling him every time I can't see him someone might steal him).

Eli really does love his little sister. I have been trying to teach him that he is to ALWAYS look out for his sister and make sure she is safe and protected. I think today he did a good job of taking on the role of big, protective brother. He made me proud.