Brotherly Love

I'm so thankful that our boys get along so well.  They still have the usual "sibling rivalry" issues at times but there's been many occasions when it's evident that they really care about each other and look out for one another (Josiah more so on the latter).  Their classes at school are right across the hall from each other and Mrs. Davis (Jackson's teacher) told me that Josiah loves to come over to "get" Jackson and walk him to the car rider area as they leave every afternoon.  In fact, she said that he gets upset if they don't wait by the door for him.  "I'm here to pick up Jackson," he'll say.

Jackson has been at home sick for the past two days.  When I woke up yesterday morning at 6 a.m., I found him playing on the computer and I had absolutely no clue how long he had been there.
It's not unusual for him to come and get in the bed with us in the middle of the night so I kept thinking that he may have been there for several hours.  After telling him it was time to get ready for school, he went straight to his bed, laid down, and fell asleep.  Further evidence that he was up half the night...or was he really sick?  Since yesterday was a half-day anyway, the last thing I wanted to do was get him to school, have them call me an hour later, have to pick him up and then go back a couple hours later to pick up his brother (we live on the other side of town from the school).  I opted to keep him home just to be safe.  He didn't eat breakfast that morning and slept through lunch time.  In fact, he was still asleep when I went to get Josiah from school.  Thankfully, Justin is home on Tuesday afternoons so I was able to let Jackson sleep.  Still, I wasn't sure that Jackson was actually sick or just sleep-deprived.

When I picked Josiah up from school, one of the first things he showed me as he got in the car was a green apple that he'd brought home for Jackson.  "Look, Mommy.  Mrs. Collins let me bring an extra apple home for Jackson.  It's gonna make him feel better."  Later, while I was at the school with Josiah having meetings with several of the boys' teachers, Josiah wanted to stop by and say hello to Mrs. Collins.  She offered him another apple and told him to make sure and pick one that wasn't "squishy" because that meant they weren't any good.  Josiah thanked her and then we began the drive home.  As we were getting out of the van, Josiah said, "Mom, if we give Jackson a 'squishy' it will make him sick.  But if we give him one that's NOT 'squishy', it will NOT make him sick.  It will make him better."  (Oh, if only it were that easy.)

He couldn't wait to enter the door and give Jackson his apple.  He honestly believed that Jackson would be 100% better immediately after eating it.  The gesture warmed our hearts and I think it actually did lift Jackson's spirits to have such a thoughtful gift.

The question of whether Jackson was sick was answered definitively this morning.  He is acting like he feels better but is running a temperature now.  When Justin told Josiah that Jackson was still sick and would be staying home again today, he thought and then replied, "Daddy, I don't think Mrs. Collins has any more apples."  The innocence and sweetness of a child.  I just love it!