Brotherly love

Today I learned an answer that has eluded me for most of motherhood. Here's how it happened: Ever since the birth of my second son, and the immediate adoration exhibited from my second son towards my first I have to admit I've been a little confused where the adoration comes from. I mean, why does the younger brother ALWAYS want the attention from the older brother? I saw it and still see it as Jack (9) antagonizes, teases, pokes, dances in front of, and begs his older brother, Scotty (11). He just wants attention and love from that older brother. Enter Elaina: A whole different breed, could actually care less for attention from her older brothers. But then enter Ben (4) 5 years behind Jack, 7 behind Scotty. Falls over himself for attention from the big brothers. Literally falls over himself onto them, jumps on them, rides on their backs, begs for their toys, asks when they will be home, wakes them in the morning. Now, the older brothers to me are noisy, use bathroom humor, and at times ignore the younger brothers. But they also do a few things that are extremely impressive to the younger brothers: 1. This morning Ben and Charlie (2) went into Jack and Scotty's bedroom where they found Jack still asleep. They proceeded to jump on his head and back yelling his name trying to wake him. You may think that Jack would wake up angry and perhaps injured and screaming. On the contrary, Jack continued to pretend to be asleep! What is more fun than that to the little brothers? They could continue to pummel their big brother with no repercussions! How fun for them and how amazing to me that Jack, at 9, could have the maturity to play with them this way, the way his dad plays with him. Of course they love their big brothers. 2. And then we have this evening. After much persuasion, I was convinced to play the Super Mario Smash Brothers Brawl video game with my older 2 sons. I have no idea how to play. They fully explained to me how to play. I still have no idea how to play. I just hit random buttons continually the entire time we were sitting there playing. It looked to me as if my two sons were doing the same thing also, just hitting random buttons. However, if this was the case, WHY DID THEY ALWAYS WIN? So, now I get why my 2 little sons will go down to the basement and just WATCH in awe as their older brothers play video games. How cool is that to a 4 yr old that their older brothers always win! So, I'm getting it. The answer to "why all the adoration?" is willingness to take a beating for the team, and some sort of videogame mastery. All I know is that it is seriously sweet how the younger ones ask where the older ones are while they are off at school. It is quite amazing how a 9 or 11 yr old can take on the "dad" roll when Dad is working late. And I am super thankful to have this dynamic in my household.