The Sweetest Boy

I felt like I needed to write a brief follow-up to Monday's post (about the matchy-matchy little girl cousins), not so much because all of you are wondering about the boy kiddos, but because someday, when the boy kiddos (hopefully) read this, I want them to know that Sara and I cared about the development of their relationship - with each other and with the girls - as well.

When I announced Carter's (he's now 16 months old) birth to Will, Will exclaimed, "great! I'm going to play baseball with him, and teach him karate, and build Legos with him, and…" I gently interrupted Will to inform him that while I adored how excited he was to jump right into a relationship with Carter, all those activities would have to wait a few years. "But why?" Will asked. "How old is he?!"

Clearly Will missed the fact that being born = being a teeny, tiny baby sack of potatoes.

Down the road, when the approximately six years that separate Will and Carter carry less significance than they do today, Sara and I will help them build a relationship. (Will loves reading to Carter and can play with him for a few minutes at a time, but Will loses interest in "baby games" and moves on to big kid activities fairly quickly.) In the meantime, I love watching him work out how to best interact with Lily. He's heartwarmingly sweet to and patient with her.

This one's my favorite. There's a lot of love between those two hands.

Now if only he'd treat his sister similarly...

Occasionally I need to remind myself that when it comes to my kids developing and strengthening relationships with their cousins who live far from Texas, it's not just about the girls. These four kiddos will need each other someday, and it's our - the parents/aunts/uncles - job to make sure that when that day comes, they'll step up to the plate.