Brothers

Nathan was born when Brady was only 18 months old.   They look similar.  They share a room, and a bunk bed, and a Lego shelf.   Nathan wears all of Brady's old clothes (at least the ones Brady hasn't demolished, which turns out to be not many as he is pretty rough and sloppy).   They generally play with the same friends, and are only a year apart in school.  But they are as different as green Jello with carrots and creme brule.

Brady holding Nathan
when Nathan was about 2 weeks old.

Brady is very thoughtful and is a calculated risk taker.  I have never had to worry about him in the pool, even before he could really swim, because I know that he will not go out any farther than he can swim back.  When he was five, he refused to ride a two wheel bike with training wheels, because he insisted that he was not ready to ride a two wheel bike, no matter if his friends were riding one or not.  He did this for about six months.  Then one day when I went to pick him up from his friend Shelby's house, he was riding a two wheel bike all around the cul-de-sac.   He had decided that he had observed enough, and had figured it all out, and was ready.  He used to put himself in time out when he felt like he was getting out of control.  And, if he gets in trouble, he definitely thought it out and meant to do it.

Nathan, on the other hand, is a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants daredevil.  He still tries to keep up with the big kids in the pool, and I have to watch him.  Closely.  One time in Dallas, he convinced Isaac to piggyback him across the deep end of the pool, under the diving board.  Isaac, always the good big brother, tried.  It ended up with the lifeguard jumping in and pulling them both up as they sunk like blockheads to the bottom.  He also taught himself to ride a bike, but it was because it was killing him that the big kids could do it, and he couldn't.  So, when he was four, he screamed and yelled until I took off his training wheels, and then he crashed and bobbled until he figured out how to ride.  Nathan never willingly goes to time out, and if he gets in trouble, it is more often than not because his playing gets out of control. 



Brady and Nathan pulling weeds in the back yard.



Having said all of this, they are absolutely hilarious together.  This week while I was driving them to school, Nathan kept pointing at the school bus, and saying:  "Look Will, bus!".  To which Will would reply:  "Butt, butt, butt."  Then they would crack up laughing, and say it again.

On Wednesday, Brady was complaining about a his stomach not feeling well.  I was cooking dinner, and kept suggesting to him that he maybe try going to the bathroom.  Nathan joined in and asked him:  "Brady, where does it hurt?"  And when Brady pointed to his stomach, Nathan punched him as hard as he could, right where he had pointed.  "There,"  he said, and swaggered away.

They sword fight with their lightsabers so fiercely, all in good fun, until somebody gets hurt, then it is for real.  They battle it out wrestling, and tackle each other hard when they play football, and kick one another, instead of the ball, when they play soccer.

But. . . today while John was watching football upstairs, and Yummy was sleeping and I was driving around running errands with Avery and Isaac, our bathroom was flooding.  The old toilet tank had cracked somehow, and water was gushing out onto the floor and dripping down into the basement, where they were playing.  John heard Nathan run over to Brady and say, "Look Brady, water!  Oh my gosh, what should we do?"  Brady:  "Lets go get something to catch it!"  They ran upstairs, got a pitcher, and took it back down to catch the waterfall coming from the ceiling, never thinking of calling for backup from Dad.  They could fix this on their own, just the two brothers.  John heard this, and ran downstairs, found the mess, turned off the water, and cleaned up. 

Brady and Nathan are brothers in the truest sense of the word.  They play, compete, fight, work and love.  Someday, I am positive that they will be the best of friends.