Boys Will Be Boys

Children have such a pure way of making you wonder about things. Like being loving to someone even when they haven't been loving to you. I have some younger cousins - all boys. There are the twins, who are 8, and their younger brother, who's 3. Last year, we attended our family reunion in a small, Texas town. The twins, their brother, their mother (my cousin), and their grandmother (my aunt) stayed in one hotel suite. I stopped by their room to hang around and talk until the reunion activities began.

The twins were playing with some toy, and the baby brother wanted to play, too. I think the twins were throwing the toy back and forth to each other out of the baby's reach. The baby didn't cry - he just kept trying to be included and get the toy. Eventually they all tired of the toy and went to play in the bathroom while my cousin, aunt, and I talked. Don't ask me what was so fascinating in the bathroom.

After a while, as I'm sitting on one of the beds, one of the twins and the baby come out of the bathroom. The twin had the baby's arm twisted behind the baby's back as if the baby was under arrest. The baby was kind of leaning forward like he was getting into a police car. (I laughed when I first saw them. I think they had seen a Cops commercial). Again, the baby didn't flinch or cry. He just went along with what his brother was doing. I stopped them and told the twin to let the baby go. The rest of the day continued with the baby trying to be included or do the things that his brothers were doing.

Later that evening, after the reunion activites, we came back to the room. The twins were exhausted and went to sleep pretty quickly. Even though the baby couldn't sleep, he got in a bed next to one of the sleeping twins. (I can barely tell the twins apart when they're awake, so I can't tell you who's who when they're asleep). As the baby lay there with a thumb in his mouth, he reached out with the other hand and gently rubbed the head of the sleeping twin. It was so sweet! His mom said she didn't understand why the twins were so mean to the baby sometimes when all he wants to do is love them.

Have you done that? Been loving to someone when they've been mean to you? Why?