Boys

I love my boys. I love how close they are in age, yet I love how very, very different they are. Over the past year, Matty has had a major growth spurt and now towers over Brayden. They look about four years apart in age (maybe in maturity too) despite their 18-month age difference.

Yesterday, it was cold and rainy. The boys get off the bus around 3:10, and the bus drops them off at the entrance to our neighborhood. Because I coddle my boys, I drove down to grab them from the bus stop and save them from the walk uphill in the freezing rain. 

When I turned the corner, Brayden was walking ahead of Matty. He looked at me, then looked back and his brother, and made a run for the front seat. There is an unspoken rule that Matty always gets the front seat because he is older than Brayden, but when I am running the boys to and from the bus stop, it is ridiculous that they care. Brayden comes up to my car and gets in the front seat. He throws his viola in the back and then sits down with his large backpack still on his back. Meanwhile, Matty starts sprinting towards the car. Before I know it, he pulls Brayden out of the front seat by the handle on the top of his backpack and throws him into the street. Brayden falls down and his metal water bottle falls out of his backpack and starts rolling.

Matty takes his place in the front and starts laughing. Poor Brayden pulls himself up, runs after his water bottle, grabs it, and then chucks it at Matty/my car. Thankfully, it barely brushed by Matty. Had the metal water bottle hit him or the car, things would have broken!

At this point, I am furious with Matty for being such a jerk, but I am also upset that Brayden cannot control his emotions and threw something at the car that could have broken a window or a nose. Brayden hopped into the back seat, and we drove up the hill in silence. Later, Matty apologized, but only in an insincere way. I reminded Matty that someday he may need Brayden's help with something and he should be nicer... so then Matty said that Brayden is my favorite and he knew I would defend him. 

I can't win! BOYS!

I snapped this pic as we were leaving the barber shop last week. Look at the size difference between my 12 and 13-year olds!