My Little Brother

When I was little, I loved playing with dolls. I kept them in very good condition with their hair always brushed and always they were dressed in dresses. I kept shoes on their feet, I cleaned them and I put them back in the boxes just like when they were new. I may have been a little obsessed even way back then.

I had just turned 4 years old a couple weeks before my little brother was born. I remember standing at the end of the hallway, outside my parent's bedroom, as my mom was preparing to go to the hospital. I knew only that when she came home, she was bringing a baby with her. I didn't know how she was going to get the baby or why she had to go to the hospital to do so or even what was this thing called a hospital. But a baby was coming to our house and I was excited. Pretty sure I told all the dolls. haha

It was a big deal when mom came home with that baby. Everyone fussed over him and wanted to hold him and feed him. I couldn't wait to get my hands on him and mom let me hold him as much as I wanted to. Which was always. They named him Douglas Lane and in my little 4 year old eyes, he was all mine.

For some amount of time, the dolls took second place. I still played with them but when the baby was awake, he was in my arms. I sat on the couch with him and just looked at him. I told him all the stories I knew from the 'Book House' books and even some I made up. When mom would gather us all up her bed to read to us, Dougy was next to me.

When the baby cried, I went running to be sure he was okay. I drove my mom nuts wanting to hold and feed him. She could barely take him to change his diaper, but she did. She drew the line there. Which, after the first few changes, I caught on to the benefits. This was in the pre-Pampers days.

He grew fast and before long I was allowed to take him outside to play in the back yard. We had a swing set with a slide and I would put him on that slide for hours on end. Of course, I never let him go down the slide without holding on to him but he laughed and enjoyed it nonetheless.

When I was old enough for school, I think I had separation anxiety. I wasn't in fear of being separated from my parents but rather from the baby. I didn't really trust anyone to take as good of care of him as I did and since I was only 5, my rational mind was somewhat underdeveloped. Apparently mom and dad managed because he was always healthy and well when I came home from school.

I couldn't tell you if Dave and Neccy were okay. At this point in my life, I had sort of been ignoring them, much like my dolls. I did try to make Neccy play school with me but for whatever reason, she simply refused. She would scribble on the chalkboard and just walk out of the bedroom, right in the middle of the lessons I was trying to teach her.

Kids will be kids and as we got older, we all got into our fair share of trouble. As mom and dad had four of us kids, they realized early on that they had to chose their battles wisely. They let us fight it out amongst ourselves for the most part.

When it came to Dougy being in trouble, I wasn't having it. No one was allowed to pick on him or fight with him or be mean to him in any way. I would even try to stop my parents from getting on to him. I was always there to intervene. I didn't care what it was, he didn't do it. Not in my eyes. Not on my watch. I may have been just a bit over-protective.

He grew up pretty much unscathed and I knew I had a part in it. He was then and is now a very funny and fun-loving person. He likes to laugh and make other people laugh. His heart is huge and he can't tell anyone 'no.' Even when he probably should. People are drawn to him as he is one of those who is always nice, always kind.

Though he doesn't remember much attention being paid to him by our parents, I remember very well how they loved him. In the evenings, you could always find him on my dad's lap, watching tv. This I allowed because the rest of us were sitting on the floor eating popcorn. I didn't let Dougy eat popcorn - he might have choked on it!

When my dad laughed at something on tv, Dougy would laugh too. Even though he was too young to know what he was laughing about. When he laughed we would all just look over there and laugh along with him to keep it going. Dad used to throw his stinky socks at my mom and that would really get Dougy laughing. I think dad did it just to hear the laughter from that little boy.

Mom called him Douglas all the time. Sometimes even Douglas Lane and he didn't even have to be in trouble. She used to let him stay up later than the rest of us. He was the youngest, he was the baby, he wasn't in school. He was also her last baby and she was spoiling him. You know, I was perfectly fine with that.

When she grocery shopped, she bought the cereal he liked, the jelly he liked and plenty of milk - which he liked. He got the new jeans instead of hand-me-downs. He got tennis shoes from the mall, not the K-mart Blue Light Special like the rest of us had gotten. She never checked his homework or even worried that it was done. I guess she got over that whole thing with the rest of us.

Dougy always rode up front with them. The rest of us were stuck in the backseat where the annoying never ended, compliments of our older brother.

I remember one Christmas in particular. Our grandparents were over and Aunt Karen and Uncle Dee were there. Everyone was dancing in the living room and Dougy literally danced his pants off. He was just a little guy and his diaper clearly wasn't snug. There's a picture of it somewhere. He's dancing with our grandfather, Pa, and his diaper is down around his ankles. No one seemed to be worried about it other than taking the picture.

Dougy got sick once when he was very little, so little he was still sleeping in his crib. Being young myself, my only thought was that he was going to die. I prayed for him to live and I cried and cried. I guess I cried myself to sleep because my mom found me asleep under his crib. I slept there for three nights. He lived. Pretty sure it was because of me.

Siblings are wonderful and next I'll blog about Neccy and Dave...maybe even throw in some cousins because they rock too!