Just a couple sweet moments

There were two really sweet moments that happened between my guys early this past week and have stayed with me all week.  I just want to keep them here, so they might make me smile again another time.

The first one was between the boys who, when they aren't trying to annoy or hurt each other are really quite sweet together.  I guess that epitomizes brotherhood for most boys.  In any case, I had ordered slippers for them after Christmas and, this past week, we were all eagerly anticipating their arrival as our hardwood floors were quite chilly.  They arrived during NB's nap time on Tuesday and LO was able to put his on right away.  His are bears and he loved them immediately.   NB's are shark boot slippers, so they are a little tougher to put on.  After nap, we showed NB his shoes and LO had put his bears on already.  LO wanted to show NB how they could run in them.  I was in the kitchen working on dinner, so LO, without being asked, tried to put NB's sharks on for him.  I turned the corner from the kitchen to find LO struggling to get NB's heel down in the boot.  For his part, NB had no idea how to cooperate with LO's efforts, so it was comical to watch, but both were patient and it was so sweet to see them try it together.  Ultimately I lent a hand and off they sprinted through the house with their new shoes.  I hope I'll remember that snapshot of tenderness for a long while.

DH was at the center of the other moment that same day.  LO was given a toy that involves sending very small (think the size of your thumbnail) cars down a spiraling ramp. The ramp came with 27 cars.  (No that's not a typo) LO and I found a car that looked like the type he had been given when we were at a sandy playground the week of New Year's.  We brought it home, but it didn't work.  We had 27 others, so I told LO we'd do something else with it.  (I keep meaning to freeze some of his small toys in blocks of ice and let him figure out how to get them out) a week later, he and DH were playing with the cars and ramp (meaning he was playing and DH was watching).  DH took it upon himself to try to fix the car.  I hadn't thought of that.  Why would we fix a car we found when we had 27 others? Still, DH was on that project like his life depended on it.  While I doubt I'll ever see DH work on a real car, the father-son interaction while he worked on the toy one sounded just as meaningful as I imagine it would with the real thing.  DH tried washing it, compressed air, then actually took the thing apart!  I was in the kitchen, so this was truly a DH-LO project, but I so enjoyed what I could overhear.  There was talk of gears, wheels, screws and other parts.  DH actually could tell that the car might propel itself which none of the other 27 do.  For about 15 minutes the two of them (I imagine) were huddled over the thumb-sized vehicle.  Then DH reassembled it... and it worked!!!  I was so impressed for so many reasons.  Have I mentioned lately how much I love that man?  Make boy bonding and miniature car fixing reason 901.