Brotherly Love

Today, while the kids are in school, I am going through some old videos that are on my computer and I have found some that I forgot that I even had. At the time that they were taken, we thought how cute the kids were, but I can look back now with an entirely different perspective on things because so much has happened in our lives that even the littlest things that the kids might have said back then just have so much more meaning now. You know, at the risk of sounding very cheesy, I have watched several Dr. Phil shows where he has said that the slate of who a person is has basically been written in early childhood through their experiences, good and bad, the love and nurturing they have received, etc. And to an extent, I can't help but think how true this has to be. And I can't help but think how much our kids have been affected by the things they have been through. I know that Ethan has a love for his sister that runs deep, but I also know that he CARES deeply for her, too. From the time that he was little, he has always been there to look out for her. He was always scared that something would happen to her. And I found this video clip of them when they were barely three years old. He had a speech delay at the time and his speech was very choppy sounding. But in the clip, Emily was going to get on the slide, and he was warning her to be careful and not hit her head. He was only THREE YEARS OLD and was that concerned about her. And just a couple weeks ago his teacher was telling me how they were playing a little fun trick on him in school and they felt so bad about it later because they didn't realize how horrible it would be for him until they were in the middle of doing it. They felt awful afterward. Emily was having her face painted as a ghost in her class for a bulletin board project. They thought it would be fun to tease Ethan and scare him (his class is across the hall from hers). So while Emily was hiding they went over and told Ethan that something was wrong with Emily and to come quick. Well, his teacher told me that as soon as she said it then she knew that they made a HUGE mistake because his face instantly turned red and he looked sick. They meant it all in fun, but Ethan is always so worried about Emily that he didn't see it like that. Even when he went over and saw her painted as a ghost, he wasn't relieved. He was still too worked up over thinking something was wrong with her. Of course, now the teachers know that something like that isn't a joking matter with him, but I know that they meant it to be all in fun that day. And I know most kids would have thought so.

I just can't help but think how this will ultimately affect Ethan in the future. He is so sensitive anyway and is paranoid to try or do anything that he thinks might be dangerous. He is always extra concerned about Emily and hates it when she hurts. Would he have been this way anyway? Or was this all learned because of life experience?

Here is the video clip of him worrying about his sister at age 3.