Brothers, Buddies, Battlestar Galactica

This post title only makes sense if you watch The Office.

Ellis and Tate are quite the pair...neither of them lack personality...or mobility...or loudness. They are so close in age (14 months) that I know they will never remember life without each other. They share a room, which is nothing short of pure free entertainment with the video monitor. In fact, just yesterday, after they had woken from their naps, Ellis and Tate had some fun with their full length door mirror. This consisted of making funny faces and doing silly dances, Ellis being a jumping bean on his bed while Tate held onto his waist for dear life, and Tate falling down and asking Ellis, "will you give me kisses?" Ellis has such a dominant personality that we wondered when Tate was a baby if he would just fall into the background, but we could not have been more wrong. Tate has a mind and a will of his own, and is quite stubborn and persevering. He keeps up with Ellis just fine, and is a loyal buddy to his brother. If one is at Montessori, the other is asking, "Where's ___?" "Can we go get ___?" It makes me a little sad to think of Ellis going to kindergarten someday, for more reasons than this, but I do think it will be hard on Tate. They are always together, always excited about playing with each other, and always coming up with hair-raising ideas. As soon as the lights go out at night, Tate says, "want to play in the bouncy house, Ellis?" Kent and I are typically outside the door saying no and to go to sleep. I will never ever forget them holding hands curiously exploring our new house, Ellis whispering, "come on Tate, hold my hand, let's go" while they crept around peering in all the rooms. Though there are pros and cons to kids close together or kids far apart, I do see the benefits of being so close in Ellis and Tate. They never really dealt with jealousy of another sibling being brought home, and are quite compassionate towards each other and their friends. Most of the time, they share their things quite easily, and have grown up with things being "theirs" instead of "mine". Of course, they have their little squabbles, but there is no doubt that they are blood brothers. Thick and thin. For better or for worse. And I'm sure that one day, they will think Battlestar Galactica is pretty neat.

Sharing the same chair watching Signing Time

Watching the Workers

Oh if I only had a dime for all of the pictures I have taken that look like this!

First Day of Montessori Spring Semester

At the Farm - Fall 2010

Big Thank You Hugs

Giggling in front of the Christmas tree

Speaking of brothers, happy birthday to my little brother, Andrew, who now has a Baby Andrew! I am so thankful for all of my brothers, and I truly am grateful that I GET to be their sister. Being siblings gets better with age as families grow, and it has been one of the greatest joys, strongholds, and blessings of my life. There is no doubt in my mind that I am a better wife and mom because of my brothers and all they have taught me.