a little Napolean, a teasing brother/father, and crushed dreams

Lil' Mama strikes a pose like no other.  Like Napolean with one hand on her six year old hip, her little Buddha belly stuck out, and one leg pointed at the camera, she commands respect and exudes a confidence she doesn't actually feel.  I love my girl. She's so tough, in spite of her paralyzing shyness, and so clever, while also being so funny.   

Of course, since this is Pollyanna's signature pose in every.single.photo we take, it's caused some hilarity among Don and myself.  Since Don grew up with five sisters, he's always keen to tease our girls and decided to spoof Pollyanna in the photo below.  

When I was growing up in a family with only girls, I always wanted an older brother.  As I learned from watching The Brady Bunch, an older brother would serve three important purposes: he would drive me places in his cool car, stand up for me against bullies I never had, and introduce me to cute, older boys. 

Now, let's fast forward a decade to when I went home with Don for the first time and saw him with a few of his five adult sisters. I'll never forget standing in his mom's kitchen cooking and the boys (adult male children) came in and started razzing their sisters about something absurd.  Like, it wasn't even funny, but they kept laughing with each other and going on and on with their dumb joke.  The girls, seasoned veterans of the Brother vs. Sister War, looked at them like they were fools (they were) and proceeded to ignore them.  Finally, Don's mom kicked them out of the kitchen after smiling at them like they were adorable (they weren't).  

I stood there at the stove dumbfounded that my sweet Donsito was an annoying brother.  I couldn't believe that my gold-hatted, high-bouncing love could be such a brat. But it was true and I learned that day that having a brother may not have been as exciting and fulfilling as it looked like it was on The Brady Bunch. Was my Donny more like Alex P. Keaton than Greg Brady?!?  Yes, yes he was! :( 

After living with and being related to Don for over a decade, my poor sister Rebekah has also learned this lesson about having a brother. Though, she probably knew already, because she's smart like that.  

Oh, Donny, you're so funny!  I love you!
*kisses*