Good Big Sister

This is a blurry picture of Natalie while we were at Willie's Icehouse on Saturday. It's blurry because I was trying to get a quick photo before Natalie started hiding her face, which she does every time she thinks I'm about to take a picture. Eric had his end of school year piano recital, and he chose to go to Willie's for dinner afterwards.

In the car on the way to the restaurant, I heard Eric squeal from the back seat. Natalie started laughing and said, "I was just affectionately rubbing Eric's arm....pit." In other words, she was tickling him. He didn't seem to mind being tickled, and they were having fun together.

Patrick went to a convention in Dallas this weekend, so he was not there to give Eric some tips during the swim meet, and to talk about Eric's butterfly and other strokes. I talked to Natalie about maybe taking Eric to the pool and giving him some "tips". She remarked that she saw Eric swimming the butterfly and that "he looked like he was about to die". She meant that he was expending way more energy than he needed to, because he was not swimming the butterfly correctly. She agreed to teach him.

We went to the pool on Sunday, and she spent a good half hour or so getting him to swim each stroke so she could tell him what he was doing wrong. She also told him what he was doing right. She spent much of the time on butterfly, but she told him something about each of his strokes. What was amazing to me was that Eric rarely pays much attention to what Patrick tells him about swimming, but with Natalie he was very attentive, even asking questions, making corrections, and showing her how he was swimming with the corrections--"Like this, Natalie?" She was also very patient with him.

They even played a game with water guns. They were each trying to shoot each other in the head, and if they succeeded, they could name the stroke that the other one had to swim. I took this photo when Eric was swimming the backstroke after Natalie shot him in the head. Without lan guides, Eric started swimming in a circle while doing backstroke. Natalie also got to swim some backstroke and breaststroke during their game.

For a few weeks now, Natalie has been reading to Eric every night before bed from Rick Riordan's book "Percy Jackson's Greek Gods". Even when Natalie wasn't feeling well, she still made time to read to him. They finished that book and now she is reading "The Lightning Thief" to him. I heard them in Eric's room so I walked in and immediately snapped this picture, catching Natalie before she could hide. She can be so sweet to Eric.

Patrick didn't get back until about lunchtime today. I was at work and the kids were all home this morning. Natalie walked with Eric to the playground so they could play on the swings. She had talked to me about it last night, but I was still a little surprised that they did that. They both got up early and got back before Alex woke up around 9am.

On Friday, Natalie and I were shopping at La Cantera Mall, when she told me that she didn't want to be a mother, and that she didn't think she would make a good mother. She then said that one of her friends said that she was a good big sister, because she made Eric something in class (they did some crafty things in her classes during the last week of school). I told her that being a good big sister was almost the same thing as being a good mother, except of course that being a mother was more work. She said, "Maybe I'll be a good mother then." She's a bit young for me to think about her being a mother, but Natalie is most definitely a good big sister, and that's good enough for now.