A Brother's Love

Thursday night, I got home after the kids were in bed. I quickly kissed TRex as he was almost asleep. Then I went into DQ's room. She was awake because she had gotten a splinter "from wood" that day and wanted it out. She asked me to do it even though she knew I'd have to use a needle.

So I grabbed a needle, tweezers, alcohol wipes, gauze, bandages, and the Mad Scientist. We asked her if she was sure and she said yes. So we tried to extricate the wood.

DQ screamed bloody murder. TRex woke up befuddled and ran into her room, worried, watching, and scared. We continued for all of two minutes before we realized how futile the exercise was and stopped, splinter still embedded in DQ's finger.

DQ fell fast asleep, but TRex was traumatized. We put him to bed, but he laid there crying, very upset at the thought that we would use a needle on his sister. I explained the necessity and then he understood. Unfortunately, he was still transfixed on his sister.

I tried to get TRex thinking about happy things. I told him that his cousins had signed up to walk with us at the Congenital Heart Walk that day and reminded him of the fun we will have. That made him happy, but didn't stop his worry.

I told him that he had received $225 of donations for the heart walk that day. He liked that too, but was still worried about his sister.

I offered to take the worries myself, but he wouldn't dare make mommy worry. So, we found a triceratops and gave all of his worries to the dinosaur. He was covered in armour, so could definitely take the pressure!

TRex felt better, so I went to leave the room. As I closed the door, I heard him crying again. I went back and he said he was still worried about his sister. I exclaimed "But I thought we gave those worries to the triceratops?"

But mommy, these are new worries.

I had TRex give those worries to the dinosaur, then I suggested he replace them with good thoughts; thoughts of playing with his cousins.

He wanted a better thought. He decided that he would dream of raising the most money ever for the heart walk. He became animated and shouted, "If we raise more than a million dollars we could do so much research! We could help DQ!!"

TRex went to bed happy, dreaming of all the money he can raise for congenital heart defect research. And first thing Friday morning, he came bounding out of his bedroom, piggy bank in hand "Mommy, I want to donate ALL of my money to the heart walk."

Maybe, just maybe, we have found a way to help TRex with his worries. Perhaps being proactive in helping find a "cure" for his sister will make TRex worry a little less.

If you'd like to help TRex reach his goal of raising the most money ever for CHD research, here is the link to his fundraising page: https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1028344&supId=367339350.