We- my dad, grandma, and I- were about to go and see my brother for the first time. As soon as the car stopped, I pushed open the door as fast as I could, and I rushed toward the hospital. My dad yelled “Stop! Wait for us.”

I yelled back “Ok!”

I stood in front of the big door that led to the hospital, and waited as my dad and grandma rushed toward me. As soon as they came, I opened the doors and ran inside. Then my dad ran up to me and held me back so I couldn’t run. Then as we walked to the room that my mother was in, just as we were about to open the door a nurse shrieked “You can’t go in there.”

My dad questioned “Why can’t I go in there?”

“Because we need to do all the tests and sanitary procedures to the newborn child,” she replied.

“Oh, ok,” said my dad.

So we waited for a few minutes- they were the longest minutes of my life.

When I found out that I was going to have a brother, I was so excited. I really wanted to have a brother, so when my dad came home to take my grandma and I to the hospital a few minutes before my brother was born I was really excited. When we reached the hospital we had to wait a few minutes before we were allowed to go inside the room, but to me it felt like a few hours. I really wanted to see him. I had wanted a brother for as long as I could remember.

I wondered to myself. Will he be nice? Will he be mean? What will he look like? What if he will hate me? Will he listen to me? I hoped that he would be the brother that I always wanted- the brother that I always wanted would listen to me, be nice to me, and play games with me- because then I would have a reason to be excited. If he wasn’t the brother that I always wanted, I was going to have some problems and have to change my plans of what I was going to do with my brother.

When we were allowed to go into the room to see him, I was so happy and thrilled that I finally had someone to play with. When I finally saw him I was really happy and I asked “Dad can I hold him?”

“Ok but you have to be careful,” he responded.

“Yes,” I yelled “Dad haven’t I always been careful?”

“No, you haven’t,” he retorted.

Then I sat down in a chair and my dad put my brother in my hands. He was as heavy as an elephant, but I was still able to hold him. I asked “Dad, what is my brother’s name?” He said “His name is Rishi.” I felt a little sad when I had to go home.

My dad drove my grandma and I home. When we reached home I realized that I would be able to tell him to do tasks for me and he would have to do them, because I was his big brother. I thought that I could tell him to do whatever tasks my parents ordered me to do. Then I fell asleep happily.

The next day I went to preschool, and I couldn’t get any work done - since I was too busy thinking about Rishi. I normally did all my work like writing the alphabet and the simple math that they gave. I did not play the games correctly either- I loved playing games and was good at them-because I didn’t listen to the directions. As soon as school was over I ran to my parents who were in the car waiting for me. I asked them “Did you bring Rishi home from the hospital?”

“Yes we brought him home this morning,” they replied.

I questioned them “Who is taking care of him?”

“Your grandma,” they replied.

When I got home I looked around the house until I found Rishi. When he saw me, he tried to get my glasses and when he realized that he couldn’t get them, he started crying. My parents said to not go near him until he got used to me. Then the next time I went near him I played pica-boo with him, and he laughed. Then I tried to tell him to hold my finger and he didn’t listen, then I realized that he couldn’t understand me. I played games with him when I had free time.

I felt- back then- that if I was nice to him, and played games with him. Then he would probably be more likely to listen to me in the future. That is why I played games with him back then. I also wanted to make him happy. Now I wonder why I was ever nice to him in the first place.
After he started speaking I tried to get him to hold my finger and he didn’t listen to me. Then I started to get annoyed by him, because he liked me so much that whenever he came near me he started to try to pull my hair. I couldn’t concentrate on my homework. He also kept on laughing whenever something funny came on TV so I couldn’t hear what they said in the show that I was watching.

After a while I realized that I was going to have to have my brother forever so I started to try to ignore him or play with him. My strategy worked sometimes and it didn’t work other times. I realized that he wasn’t annoying and that he liked me a lot and wanted me pay attention to him. So I started to pay attention to him, but he still is annoying at times. My strategy worked for me and I got through thinking that he was annoying. This is how I learned to go with the flow.