Brotherly Love

There's plenty of tension between the boys on any given day, screams for "Mom, get Ezra," or arguments between the older two, but in comparison to what it could be, I feel very fortunate that the boys get along as well as they do, especially given their age differences.  I know they love each other.  With Noah, it's almost always clear as he's most effusive about it (more so about his cute baby brother, less so at the moment for his "annoying" 4-year-old one).  I see it with Avi too, but not as often.  He's more apt to put a sign on his door saying "no 8 year olds allowed," or complain about having a baby mess things up. However, his affection for both of his brothers the other day was so palpable I was really touched.  It was picking him up at the end of his school day and he was bouncing around enthusiastically asking me when Noah was going to be home so they could play Cars together again (they've been acting out scenes from Cars 2 with Avi's two lego kits of Mater and Fin McMisile he got the other day).  "When's he going to be home, Mama? Noah's my best friend!"  Ah, what more can a mother ask for?  Then, not five minutes later, as I was talking with someone, Ezra snuck behind the folded room divider at TBI as he is wont to do.  I saw him, and was going to get him in just a second, but before I got over there, Avi suddenly came running to me screaming in terror.  He could hardly speak he was so upset.  Tears streaming down his face, sobbing, he pulls me down and I try to figure out what had happened to him.  Turns out, nothing.  He was just worried about that pesky little brother of his.  Ezra was fine of course, but somehow Avi thought that the other kids had smashed him behind the room divider and he was completely distraught that his little brother was hurt.  As I assured him that Ezra was fine and another adult fished the oblivious monkey out of his hiding spot, I managed to calm Avi down.  I was so touched that Avi would be that concerned.  It was such a dramatic display of his affection and sense of protection for his brother.  I really hadn't seen anything like it before.