Siblings at heart.

I had mentioned before how I helped a lot when my little sister was born. I was fifteen when she was born. When we would go out people always assumed she was mine. One time when we were at a museum in Mexico City one of the ladies there commented to my mom how beautiful her granddaughter was. My mom, of course, was offended and said she was too young to be a grandmother and that both girls were her daughters. The lady laughed and said it was alright, there was no shame in being a young grandmother. My mom was still not very happy, but decided not to argue. I don't know if it's the way I was with my sister because I have always kind of seen her as my daughter. I would wake up in the middle of the night to help my mom with her when she went back to work. My mom kept breastfeeding even after she started working, so I would give my sister the bottles with breastmilk, but she wouldn't take them from anyone else only me, I'm sure it's because it felt more real. I taught my sister her body parts and I helped her when she started walking. I took care of her everyday after school. There were times, when I started basketball and soccer, that I would take her and my brother with me to my practices. I feel like I was a second mother figure to my brother and sister. My brother will tell people the same thing, sometimes. I'm not sure how my sister feels about me now that I have my son, but I feel like I still do whatever I can for them. When I got pregnant, my brother wasn't too excited, but my sister was very, very happy and proud to say she was going to be an aunty. I moved out from my dad's so I didn't see them as much. For my baby showers, my sister kept telling everyone how Baby Gio was going to call her aunty and she was only going to be 4. She asked all sorts of questions like would he talk, who was he going to look like, was he going to play with her, would he cry a lot, what was going to be his favorite food, and the biggest one how did he get in my tummy. She made up a story about how Baby Gio was a little tiny seed and he ran around and then I grabbed him and ate him and now he was growing in my tummy. As my due date got closer she asked how he was going to come out. My mom told her I was going to poop him out and she just looked at me with a really grossed out look asking, "Is that true?" We laughed and my mom said she was just kidding that a doctor was going to take him out, but he would have to open me up. My sister was satisfied with that answer. When she first visited me at the hospital she could not believe her eyes. There was a real baby laying in the little bed and my stomach was no longer big, or well as big. She wanted to carry him, but my mom said he was too delicate so she needed to help her. She didn't want to let him go. My brother was actually pretty in love with Baby Gio too. To this day I think Baby Gio is the only person in this entire world to make my brother's eyes light up. It's beautiful. My sister didn't exactly understand what it meant for Baby Gio to have Down Syndrome. She says he's really smart and always takes her toys like a normal baby would. I love her simplicity. When I told her Baby Gio had to learn sign language, she thought it was the coolest thing ever. She's the one who pressures him to use his sign language. She's also the only one he listens to, most of the time. When she asks him to sit and eat, he listens. He gets so happy when she comes over and he gets all hyper. Their relationship is amazing. They're growing up together and she watches over him the way I watched over my brother. She cares for him and does everything to make him happy. When we are all out together my sister likes to say how people think they are both my children, but that she's his aunty. I'm sure it's cooler to be an aunt than a big sister. It made my sister grow up a lot, but we try to make sure she realizes she's still a kid. It also amazes me how much she understands about him. In a way she's the only other person besides me that really gets him. We understand how he feels and why he does certain things. Her patience with him is remarkable. I'm excited to see them grow up together, like siblings.