Best friends

My favorite part of any weekend is the morning time that we share as a family. Grady and Evan are ready to wake up before their sleepy parents are, so the two of them join us in our bed. We then spend half an hour or more having hugs, laughing, and rolling around, just talking. It's a special way to wake up, and I look forward to it all week.

This morning, Evan put an arm around Grady in bed and said, "Grady, you're my best friend." It was the sweetest thing I'd ever heard, especially from a kid who has had so much trouble making friends and interacting with his peers. I think it surprised both me and Mike to hear Ev say these words too.

It's been obvious to see how much Grady adores Evan. He follows him around, lights up when he enters a room, and gets so excited when the bus brings his brother home from school. But Evan is a little harder to read. Sure, he loves Grady, but it's not that blind devotion--it's more of a tolerance tempered with moments of pleasure. So to hear that he thinks of his brother as more of a friend than an annoyance? That just thrilled me.

I know these two boys are going to have their share of battles over the years. They will scrap, they will fight, they will hate each other and they'll make up and start again. But to see that they will be friends as well as brothers, that makes me a very happy mom indeed.