Wednesday, July 11, 2012

on brothers and other oddities

Now we are one month old (ancient baby!), the occasion must be marked, a little note made of the gobsmacking placidity of my days. I am so enthralled, life gallops forward in minutiae! This little girl is now almost a full pound heavier than when we started, and seems to have the trick of smiling in earnest. And I think yesterday she may even have had ... not quite a giggle, but perhaps the single-celled organism that is the primeval predecessor to a giggle.

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I have been trying to explain time to my son, and these little quirks like one month nnnnn-sorta-almost equals four weeks is not helping clear things up any. I can't remember when things clicked into place for me, but then I already had a big brother to tell me how the world works, so I got a head start. Anatole is most eager to share his ample knowledge of The World with Anaiah, this must be one of the truest joys of siblingdom. But it behooves the wise to take older brothers with a grain of salt.

The Infamous Lies My Brother Told Me (and that I believed, to my lasting dismay):
  • Native Americans are born white; they become brown from spending so much time in the sun.
  • Bees won't go in the shade. If a bee is chasing you, run into the shade and you will be safe.
  • There is a line in 'Chattanooga Choo-Choo' that goes like this: "Satin and lace / I used to cough on your face."
  • A square knot is the strongest knot in the world. It can hold anything.
  • Earwigs are for ears.

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I can tell that my son will be a natural. He loves sharing truths, especially the ones he invents. I can't wait.

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4 comments:

  1. He's had a head start with my daughter, even though she's older. I wish I could remember all the ones she came home convinced of saying "Uh huh! Anatole said so!".

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    1. Oh, yes, he has been preparing for this his whole life! And remember how he used to call Noe his little sister?

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  2. Oh, we have to get these littles together in August! Your girl is darling.

    It's good to know the difference between older brothers and older sisters... older sisters tell their little brothers how things are and then take the blame when little brothers totally misuse the information. Like the time I made it absolutely clear to my brother that we were only pretending to eat the snowberries we'd foraged in the woods and he swallowed them anyway and had to have ipecac. Or the time I shared the Meaning of the Middle Finger in strictest confidence with the stern warning never to do it to anyone and then, on a day when our mother was volunteering in his kindergarten, he announced it to a whole table of his little classmates (and didn't even use the right finger). Sigh.

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    1. Yes, yes, let's do! Sounds like being a little sister was way more fun...since I didn't have to bear the burden of such responsibility I got to lead him into all sorts of trouble, too!

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