In Praise of Kind Boys*

 It started one day a month and a half ago when Zeke came downstairs and told me that Cadence had a stinky diaper.  "Well, tell her to come downstairs, and I'll change it," I said.

"But I ALREADY changed it," he replied.

After assuring me that,yes, he'd cleaned her bottom with wipes, and, yes, he'd put the dirty diaper in the garbage, he ran off to play, leaving me surprised in his wake.

*Now is an appropriate place to interject that I can't imagine Aidan ever doing anything like this when he gets older, yet he still adores his beebee sister and is kind.  That kindness just expresses itself in different ways, such as in sharing his myriad weapons with her so she can use them as chew toys.

Since then, I've walked into a room to see scenes like this, as he changes the baby's diaper AND puts on a fresh change of clothes, all of his own volition.  Craziness!  But he does love his sisters...

A few weeks back, Skylark was fussing upstairs, and I hoped she would fall asleep without further nursing.  When she fell silent, I tiptoed upstairs to see that someone had put a pillow from the girls' room under her head and tucked her cozily under her quilt.  Zeke again. When I asked him about it, he said he had stroked her hand and talked to her until she fell asleep.

His newest service to his sisters is doing Cadence's hair, but I'm wondering if that might have more to do with the fact that there's a spray water bottle in with the hair paraphernalia than in a pure desire to serve.  :)