O Brother Where Art Thou

Happy Fatherhood Friday everyone!

As I was conceptualizing this post, I had this feeling that I was recycling the title of a previous post.  Sure enough, I am.  It was interesting to go back and see the ongoings over 3 years ago.  A good reminder of one of the reasons I blog - to remember.

Because we know that as parents we suffer from this mild (or not so mild) chronic fatigue and/or sleep deprivation-induced dementia that makes it hard to remember what we just said what we had last night for dinner.

That post was about Little Brother missing Big Brother when he started Pre-K.  Man, does that seem like forever and a day ago.

So this time, the tables are turned.

The other weekend, Mom-E ran a race, and all 3 boys had the opportunity to participate in a "Fun Run" for kids.

It made sense to enter all 3 of them, because they all pretty much run around all day, so while they're running around anyway, they can earn a medal and some other prizes.

I'll admit that we had slightly higher hopes for the length of the Fun Run.  We thought it was going to be a big loop, but instead they had the kids run about 50 yards and then suddenly stop.

Of course, Bab-E Brother, who despite being 2, avidly runs pretty much everywhere he goes, took one look at the gobs and gobs of kids, and decided that Dad-E should "chauffeur" him and carry him the entire distance.  (Suddenly, Dad-E is glad this was only 50 yards).

But Big Brother and Little Brother both took off at the start, although they got separated amidst the traffic.

When they got to the finish, Big Brother was VERY CONCERNED that he couldn't find Little Brother.  Indeed, it was a huge mess of parents and kids, made worse by the fact that all of the kids were wearing the same race day t-shirt.  Big Brother, in frantically trying to find him, happened to find me, and so we looked together.

He spontaneously told me that he was about to ask one of the race officials, "Can I get a medal and a bag for my brother, so that he's sure to get one, because I can't find him?"

This coming from the boy who would barely talk to his kindergarten teacher for the first half the school year.  For him to willingly want to talk to a "strange" adult speaks volumes.

Of course, Mom-E and found Little Brother, and we met up within a few minutes.

But I was very proud to see Big Brother so genuinely concerned about Little Brother's well-being.

Because let's face it, they're brothers.  Most of the time they're fighting about each other's toys, or getting annoyed at someone who keeps singing the Transformers theme song (over and over and over), or calling each other "doo-doo head" or some-such nonsense.

So it's good to know that when push comes to shove, they've got each other's back and they stick together.

Good boys.

Have a good weekend,
Don't get lost,
Busy-Dad-E