Thought I’d share with you a rather touching moment of interplay between Isobel and Ben today.
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Following months of indifference towards the stacking rings, on the spur of the moment Isobel decided that her baby brother should have the lot today.
But of course, she didn’t do that in the usual way. Oh no. Issy being Giving Issy, she just had to do it her way. That is, by inching towards where the stacking rings were, then gently – though rather effortfully – prising them off the pole, one by one, and handing them to Ben.
Each time she did so, he’d reach out to take the offer, and maybe explore it a little with his tiny, dextrous fingers before realising his sister was offering him another ring.
Not only did Isobel spontaneously give us a show of both independent thinking and affection for her little brother, she also made us privy to a rather unexpected development in motor skills. During the months of teaching her to lift the stacking rings off the pole – back in late 2010 – we’d struggled to get her to reach for the two largest rings at the bottom, the red one and the pink one. Sometimes she wouldn’t even touch the mauve ring above them either. Perhaps, it was just too much hard work.
Today, out of sheer generosity, Isobel decided those two were just as worthy a present as all the other rings, irrespective of their place on the stacking pole. And whether he meant to or not, indications seemed to be that in accepting them, Ben was building his own foundations of brotherly love. A touching moment indeed.
