No “Buddy” Like a Brother

 

Sunday night, December 11th, Isaac and Jacob were getting out of the shower and getting ready for bed. Isaac came to me and whispered in my ear, “I don’t want to have hair-cuts anymore, I want to be like Jacob.” Meaning that he wanted to shave his head. I was excited, but I also didn’t know how serious he was. It’s no small thing to shave your head and even my four-year-old knows it.

I asked Isaac when he wanted to shave his head and he said, “Tuesday.” Ok, we’d wait until Tuesday and see what he thought about it then. But then, without me prompting him, he told Scott and Jacob the same thing—that he wanted to shave his head on Tuesday.

Well, Jacob was just ecstatic, truly, he was so excited—and Isaac could see it. “We could do it right now if you wanted to!” someone said (either Scott or Jacob, I can’t remember who). I could see hesitancy in Isaac’s eyes, so in my motherly way, I tried to reassure him, “You can just wait until Tuesday if you’d like,” I said, all the while thinking he’d never go through with it.

“No, I want to do it right now,” Isaac confidently told me.

Alright then, let’s go get the clippers (these have had a lot of use lately!) And off we went to shave the head of the final boy in our house.

 

Seriously, check out that smile. Jacob was SO excited. I remember him jumping up and down as Isaac’s hair fell to the floor. It was a very happy moment. Scott and I went to bed very proud parents that night.

I attribute Isaac’s decision to two main things. The first is the many other people who have shaved their heads for Jacob. The second is Jacob & Isaac’s friendship—it has really deepened over the last month because they spend a lot of time playing together. We really haven’t had many friends over, Jacob’s not going to school right now, we have limited contact with other people, so the boys just have each other and, for now, it’s awesome. I feel like it’s my job as their mom to really preserve this friendship over the next several years. It’s a special thing for them to have this time together right now and I am so grateful that they have each other.