Liam received a birthday present in the mail today — from his Grandma — two presents, actually:  one for him and one for Benjamin.  We got the package early today, but waited to open it until Benjamin got home, because I knew how excited he’d be.  When I told him, on the way home from school, that we had a package from Grandma waiting for him & Liam, he became a bouncing, whirling ball of 3 year old excitement.  When we got home, he didn’t even want to wait until he had taken off his shoes and sweatshirt (for B, this is saying something) — he wanted Liam to open his present!

Of course, Benjamin helped him.  The idea was for Liam to decide which one he liked and for Benjamin to have the other.  Benjamin decided, before opening the wrapped packages, that the first one would be for Liam and the second would be for him.  (I give him MAJOR credit for deciding that the first gift was for Liam.)  The gifts were two soft cars from the “Cars” movies.  The first one was Mater, and the second one was Lightning McQueen, which worked out very well (I suspect that regardless of the order they’d been opened in, B would have ended up with Lightning McQueen, but as it was, he got to stick to his initial plan).  Liam showed no particular preference, so I went with Benjamin’s choice.  Liam is very happy with his new truck, and B is happy with this car, and that works out perfectly.

I think, though, as a little brother, you must end up spending a lot of time being the sidekick — Robin to Batman, Mater to Lightning McQueen.  And I think that’s fine, for now — Liam is thrilled with his new truck (and I’m sure he would have been thrilled with the car, if it had gone the other way).  But there will be a day when Liam doesn’t want Benjamin to choose which toy is his, and there will be a day when Liam prefers to play the hero.

There’s a part of me that dreads that day — there will be fireworks, I know.  But, at the same time, I think this is one of the great things about having siblings:  it is so much easier to live through that drama as a child instead of having to wait until you’re grown up to discover the world doesn’t turn around the place you stand.  It’ll be an interesting day, when it comes to pass.

I am so happy to watch my boys together.  Benjamin very sweetly took Liam’s truck into his room and put it in his bed before I put Liam down for his nap today.  They played and raced together all afternoon.  Liam is so happy to play with his brother — he likes his truck, but I think the best present for him is being able to play cars together with Benjamin.  He is a happy little 1 year old.