Big Brothers

What is it about little boys that possesses them to completely terrorize their little sisters? It’s almost as if it is innate from the time of birth.

My husband and I seem to be at opposing ends of this spectrum. My husband is an older brother who likes to lovingly relate tales of how he put his little sister in a box and shoved her down the stairs, or how he would rip the limbs off of her dolls so he could play a fun game of dismembered Barbie.

I, on the other hand, grew up as a little sister. I relate terrifying tales of how I was held down and terrorized in creative ways at the hands of my older brother, or how some of my favorite toys were destroyed much to his amusement.

When I hear Georgia scream and see Eli’s evil little smile, it’s like I have stepped into a time warp back to 1977. I seriously can’t handle it. If Eli sees Georgia playing with one of his toys (or one of hers for that matter), he will quickly rip it out of her hands and throw it across the room.

Why? That’s what I want to know. Why the hell does he feel the need to do that? When I reprimand him and ask him why, I either get “I don’t know,” or the more explanatory “I didn’t want Georgia playing with it.” *sigh*

And Eli is such a sweet loving boy. I just don’t get it. Today, I actually heard him do an evil laugh. I’m not exaggerating. He actually looked at his sister and went, “Muwahahaha.” WTF?!

Anyway, today’s incident actually spurred my little tangent. We were driving along, when all of a sudden Georgia started screaming from the backseat. I looked back and Eli was touching the side of her car seat. That was pissing her off. I just sighed and said, “Eli, leave her alone.”

Two minutes later, more Georgia screams from the back seat. I looked back again, and Eli’s hand was back on the side of her car seat, and she was screaming, trying to pry his fingers off of her seat. (Does this bring back any memories of phrases like, “MOM! HE’S LOOKING AT ME!!” to anyone?)

What’s worse is that Eli was smiling. He was so incredibly proud of the fact that he was causing his sister so much torment. My response, “Eli, why do you have to be such a boy?!! Stop that!” He seemed confused by that remark, and in retrospect, that probably wasn’t the most brilliant thing for me to say.

I related the story to Eric and told him that Eli wouldn’t stop touching Georgia’s seat. His response, “Yeah? What’s wrong with that?” Grrrr!! Those damn big brothers! They stick together!