Brotherly Love

Andrew and Tyler have been playing together more than ever and it is so neat to see them becoming such great friends – when they aren’t tattling, hitting /pushing (by “accident” of course!), stealing toys, or generally doing things to make one another cry. What is so interesting to me is that they play better together (e.g. less fighting) when Mom and Dad are not in direct ear shot (or at least they think we aren’t!).

For example, when they play in the backyard together, Douglas and I have all of the blinds open and usually keep the door/windows open so that we can easily hear them. They can usually play in the backyard for an hour without any squabbles. Tears are sometimes still shed, but usually because someone falls down and skins a knee rather than due to bratty behavior.

In fact, we normally have to be careful because they like to scheme and come up with things they should NOT be doing, like playing with sticks, trying to climb the crepe myrtles, turning on the water hose or jumping off of things they should not.

They particularly enjoy sleeping in each other’s rooms right now too – who didn’t love a sleep over growing up? We normally only allow them to sleep in the same room (usually Tyler’s because of the bunk beds) on weekends because they talk and generally keep each other up far too late for school nights. Of note, they never argue when they are playing in their rooms, especially not at night. Why? Probably because they know they are not supposed to be up in the first place!

A couple of weeks ago they took late naps in the afternoon on Saturday, so Douglas let them stay up later than usual (and have brownies for dinner, but I digress). I was having a girl’s night out so I was not home at bed time. I got home around 11:00-something and they were still awake. I kissed them goodnight and told them to wrap it up and call it a night and I went to bed. Well, apparently, Douglas had to go upstairs at least two more times and as late as 1:00 am to get them to finally go to sleep. I am shocked he didn’t separate them, which would have ensured immediate sleep and would have guaranteed that they would sleep in Sunday morning. See, Andrew tends to wake up Tyler when he goes to the bathroom in the morning if they are in the same room and rather than going back to sleep, they end up playing quietly until a more sane hour (they don’t even ask to come downstairs until after 8 am!)

Well, Sunday night rolls around and I gave them the sad news that no, they would not be sleeping in the same room, it is a school night after all. We did our goodnight routine and went downstairs to get ready for the week. Sure enough, 30 or more minutes later we (read Doug because I am sure I had fallen asleep on the couch) heard talking.

This in and of itself is not unusual because both boys talk/sing to themselves on occasion to fall asleep, but usually there is not a conversation happening. Douglas asked me to take care of business, so I went upstairs to find Tyler sitting with Andrew on Andrew’s bed reading books with only Andrew’s nightstand light on. I think I caught them off guard and I sternly told Tyler to get to his room. He obliged but yet again 15 minutes later Douglas heard talking. This time Douglas went upstairs to find Andrew talking to Tyler in Tyler’s room. Apparently, Andrew felt the need to talk to Tyler about why Mommy was so upset before. Gah!

In other news, we took the boys to see How to Tame Your Dragon this weekend and they loved it. I love going with them to the drive-in. It is just great family fun!

The boys are also taking weekly swim lessons to get ready for this summer. I am looking forward to the unseasonably cool weather to warm up a touch more to the perfect pool weather temps. I can’t wait to take the boys to the pool this summer!