NIKKI AND ETHAN

This is a photo of Nikki and Ethan taken in 2003. Ethan was only 13 days old here.

This photo really says a lot about Nikki's devotion to Ethan. I've heard some horror stories about first-born kids resenting their baby brother or sister and I'm just so wonderfully glad that this was not the case with us. From the time Nikki saw Ethan he already understood that he was going to have a brother and a playmate for life. He was so curious about Ethan, he would babble to him, he would give Ethan his milk, he would play with him endlessly until Ethan would crankily cry to let him alone. He just found Ethan as adorable as we did. And we were happy about that.

Even now, Nikki is still very much the big brother, a kuya to the letter. When he sees Ethan approach a flight of stairs he would say, "Ethan! Not there!" Or if Ethan poopoos and he would smell, Nikki would come to me straight away and report "Mommy! Ethan has poopoo in his diaper! You wash his buli (butt)!" Of course, there are other things as well. Like when Ethan was playing with the electric fan, I scolded him but it was Nikki who tearfully said, "It's okay, Ethan..." even if Ethan was not at all sorry about what he did. And when my dad, whom they fondly call Popsie, would tease Nikki that he and my mom were going to keep Ethan forever, Nikki would protest to no end.

Perhaps being older than Ethan, Nikki became more responsbile and more independent than we expected and wanted him to be. Maybe because of Ethan's arrival, Nikki was not able to really appreciate being just carefree. But I could say that it has definitely done more good than harm. Because I could see how wonderful they are together, how they manage fights, how they make up, how they complement each other, how they make each other stronger, how they understand each other like only brothers do. Of course, there will always be the fights but I am sure that those won't last more than a few minutes. They can't, after all, live without each other.