When it’s your cousin, you hold her hand and have patience when she can’t walk as fast as you.
You let her pick what to do to even if you’d rather do something else. Without complaining. You even suggest it.
You argue over whose turn it is to be her partner when it comes to pairing off.
You let her eat your candy. Again, without complaining- you even offer it.
You say it’s okay when she spills things on your shirt.
You let her take up half your chair and eat off your dinner plate.
You hug her and say how cute she is.
You whisper to your mom that she should buy a toy for your cousin and don’t mention anything for yourself.
You say you’ll miss her when you only said goodbye two minutes ago.
At least, this is what my boys did with their cousin.
With each other, they get more easily annoyed, have less patience and way more arguments.
I know they love each other, I see it in sweet moments and it’s there, underneath it all, even when they’re arguing over who gets the first juice box (that second one coming half a second later is too long to wait), or screeching at each other over which identical toy belongs to whom, or any number of things that result in a wrestling match.
So it’s nice to see a reminder that they are loving, caring, little boys. Even if it takes a visit with a cousin to show that side off.
Or maybe this should read because your cousin isn’t a boy…. Maybe they showed their softer side because they were around a girl for once. Either way, I’ll take it!