How To Annoy Your Brother and Then Be Completely Adorable

Irritating your siblings is easy work. Some sure fire ways that come to mind – borrowing favorite toys without permission, grazing an elbow on “accident” while the other person is holding something fragile, crossing the invisible line in the back seat of the car, finishing the last of the only good kind of cereal in the house, and my personal favorite, that maddening mimicking game. You know the one I’m talking about? You know the one I’m talking about? And then there are just the times when your sibling flat out drives you crazy by being completely illogical. A recent dialogue:

“Colin, what did you just call me?”

No response

“Colin, what did you just call me?”

“I don’ know, Quinn, I didn’t hear it.”

“But Colin, you’re the one that said it.”

“I know, but I couldn’t hear myself.”

“Colin, you called me a booty.”

“Well, yeah – haven’t you heard of John David Booty – the quarterback for USC?”

“Dad, Colin called me a name!”

No response. (Because Dad is actually rolling his eyes.)

“DAD!”

“Quinn, IGNORE it! That’s what Dad will tell you.”

“But, Colin, that makes no sense -- you’re telling me to ignore you.”

“No, I’m not …. (booty)..”

And then later, there is this from Colin at bedtime:

“Dear God. Thank you for this day. Thank you for this house. Welcome to our house. I hope you have a good time. Amen.”

That’s the amazing thing about preschoolers/kids …. teens? (maybe not?)

In one moment, they can drive you crazy and get under your skin like no one else can. And then in the next moment, you want to eat them up because they are so charming – and so simple. They haven’t the life experience to overcomplicate their thinking. They haven’t had to figure out why people can’t but governments can run a budget deficit, who any of People Magazine’s Top 100 Most Beautiful people even are, or how to import a contact list into their mobile phone. They are just happy for the day, for the place they live, and for the nice people that come to visit.

After that prayer, Colin asked me if water was healthy. When I replied that yes it was, he followed it up with this: “Mom, do I know everything?” He asked it like there was a maybe a chance that he did. Like maybe he was all filled up with everything he could possibly need or want to know in the world. So while I had to let him down gently that there was still a lot more left for him to learn, I smiled as I realized that there was something he had just taught me. He had taught me how to pray the kind of prayer I think God wants to hear – pure, direct, uncomplicated. I think even booty (I mean Quinn) was smiling in the next bed over too.