Splinters

David and Noah were in the bathtub after an evening full of outdoor play.
Noah:  "mom, my hand hurts."
me:  "what's wrong with it?"
Noah:  "Got scratch."
I took his wet little hand in mine.  There was no scratch--it had 3 splinters lodge in it.  Ah man!  Poor kid!  I did not want to inflict pain on his tiny hand 3 times!  All of them were completely in the skin.  There was no end for the tweezers to grab onto.

Well, I pulled out a tiny pin and a pair of tweezers.  David knew the drill already.  Before i could even say it, he said, "you can't look, Noah!"  Yup, that is the rule.  If you look and know what is going on, it hurts worse.

But inquisitive little Noah was not going to willingly avert his eyes.  David looked at him and repeated, "You can't look, Noah," and covered Noah's eyes with his hands.  And Noah let him!

I carefully picked out all three splinters.  With the first one Noah sorrowfully whimpered "it hurts!"  But he was a champ the rest of the time.  He did try to pull his hand away a few times, but he never cried, and David never uncovered his eyes.  He stayed right next to him the entire time with his hands clapped over his little brother's eyes.  His forehead touching mine as I bent over Noah's hand, he watched in fascination, studying the minor surgery that was taking place.

Noah came through without a tear with the help of his big brother.  Those little boys amaze me.  I love seeing the little acts of love and protection that David demonstrates.  And Noah's trust in him is unbelievable.  I would've never thought that he would've let David cover his eyes when he knew he was going to experience pain.  He never tried to pull his hands away.  Such good brothers.