Little Protector

As I've already said, last week we had to get vaccines. We ended having to wait forever, or at least that's how it felt. While we were waiting, another little girl and her mom came in. The little girl was 20 months old, and she and Aubrey "chatted." Actually, Aubrey talked her ear off... the other little girl never made a peep.

Anyway, Jude was in his carseat, and the little girl was very interested in him. She kept going over to look at him. She then started trying to touch him. The mother told her not to "touch that baby's face." I was thinking to myself, "I don't know you from Adam; please don't touch 'that baby' ANYWHERE!" Of course I couldn't say that, so I just bit my tongue and prayed that the little girl wasn't carrying any horrible germs. Big sister Aubrey wasn't so inhibited by social graces. Anytime the little girl would get near Jude, Aubrey would run to him and put her hand on his head. She would stand over him protectively and look the little girl square in the eye and say, "That's MY Jude!"

Maybe this was just a case of a Aubrey wanting to stake her claim on her "property" but I prefer to think of it as big sister protectiveness. Several people commented on how protective Aubrey was of her little brother. She would stand guard over him until the little girl lost interest and walked away, and then Aubrey would put her fangs back in. The mother in me was so proud that Aubrey was watching out for her little brother. (Just an FYI: Aubrey wasn't being mean to the little girl. They were actually playing together until the little girl got too close to Jude. I wouldn't have been proud of or encouraged meanness, of course!)

I hope that Aubrey and Jude will always look out for each other and have each others backs. I can't wait to watch their sibling relationship grow and develop!