Friday, July 18, 2008

Loving the brother

A number of people, including ourselves, have wondered how Jamie would react to Connor's birthday, and the party, attention and presents that will accompany it. But we have been presently surprised so far. While there has been some sense of longing, Jamie is very clear that his birthday is November 7 and that is a few months off, and he seems genuinely happy for Connor. Today, Connor got a couple of cards in the mail and Jamie asked if he had gotten any. Sarah said no, and said that Connor would be getting a lot of cards and presents soon. Jamie said, "Because it's his birthday? Is he going to be 2?" Yes, Sarah said. Then as she was getting him out of the car he jumped up and gave Connor big hugs and kisses to congratulate him on the feat.

Then, tonight after he had been in bed for a few minutes, Jamie called up from downstairs. He knows that we will not mind coming down if he has a scary dream, but he's learned that we won't buy it if the "dream" comes 5 minutes after we put him down. So now he claims to have had scary thoughts, so we tell him to think of happy things. Tonight he said, "OK, I'll think about Connor's birthday party."

I suspect that Jamie also knows that whomever they are for, this is going to mean an influx of toys into the house that will benefit him. So it's not totally disinterested, but I do think he is genuinely happy for Connor.

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