One snowy day in December 2004, I received a late Christmas present.  It wasn’t a doll, or a DVD, or a book.  It was something that most kids could only ever wish for.  It was a baby brother.  I was five years old when I found out that my mom was pregnant.  I wanted a little brother or sister so badly.  I wanted to play with them and become their first best friend.  My mom and I were brainstorming names for my little brother for months.  It had to start with a letter A, because all of our names started with A and we didn’t want my new brother to be the only one without an A name.  My parents wanted to name my brother Alexander, but I wanted to name him A.J.  We finally agreed to make his real name Alexander Justin, but call him A.J. as a nickname.

On December 28th, the day before my brother was born, my mom told me she was going to the hospital.  I thought she was sick and I became nervous.  She told me that she was not sick and that she was going to the hospital to have my baby brother.  I was really excited and I wanted to meet A.J. so badly.  My grandma came over and watched me for the rest of the day.  We watched Sesame Street, ate lots of snacks and played with my dolls.  Later, I fell asleep and dreamed about my new brother.  I was so eager to see him that I kept waking up in the middle of the night.

The next morning, my grandma woke me up telling me that my brother was born.  I enthusiastically jumped out of bed to the point that I fell on the floor. My grandma asked me to get dressed and eat breakfast so we can visit A.J.  I sat at the kitchen table eating a bowl of green grapes as fast as I can.  They tasted especially good that day.  As soon as I finished, I threw on my pink coat and we left the house to see my brother.

When we arrived at the hospital, we traversed around the floor and finally found my mom’s room.  I apprehensively opened the door and found my mom on the bed holding a beautiful baby, and my dad sitting on a rocking chair next to her.  I will never forget that vision.  I ran over to them and looked at the baby with amazement.  I couldn’t believe this was my baby brother.  The baby was wrapped in a white blanket, and had a blue hat on. He was sleeping peacefully in my mom’s arms.  I asked my mom if I could hold him and she said yes.  My dad carefully lifted A.J. out of my mom’s arms as I sat down on the rocking chair.  I immediately felt a connection with my new brother and I too felt a sense of peace.  I wanted to hold him all day.  I eventually had to let my grandma hold him and give him back to my mom. I was actually sad to let go of him.  I loved my new baby brother.

After talking to my mom for a few minutes, my dad and I went to go get lunch in the café downstairs.   My dad asked me what I wanted.   I wanted a cup of Haagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream, my favorite flavor at the time, to celebrate my new gift.  I told my dad that I loved my new brother and he said that he did too.  I told him how cute he was and how little he was.  I also told him what I did with my grandma while he and my mom were at the hospital.  We chatted for a long time and then went back upstairs to visit my mom and the baby again.

After having A.J. home for a few weeks, I started to realize something.  I realized that I’m not the only child anymore.  I realized that my brother was going to get all of the attention for a while.  I had to accept that everything couldn’t always be about me anymore.  I knew my parents loved me, but they also loved my brother too.  Everything was going to be different.  Everything was about to change.

Today, my brother is ten years old and boy did things change.  It has been a rough road.  My brother has autism.  I could never have predicted it that day in that hospital room, but it doesn’t matter anyway.  I love him just the same.  We get along well and barely fight.  His smile makes me melt.  I love playing with him or just hanging out with him. He receives a great deal of therapy.  I feel sorry for him because he works so hard.  I always try to teach him new things and we always have fun together.  There are some difficult times for all of us.  Sometimes he is very sad or can’t communicate to us. Sometimes we cry about it.  He is really a special child.  Many people love him and say how adorable he is.  I am always there for him and I always will be. When I was younger, I was afraid that my brother would end up being the “favorite”.  The good thing is there is no “favorite” in my family.  I have a very loving family.  We always help each other.  We are all very close to one another.  I can tell my parents anything at this point in my life.  My parents love us both equally and unconditionally.  Having a brother is one of the best things that ever happened to me.  He was my late Christmas present. 

I am not sure what the future holds for any of us.  What I do know is that I will cherish the time we spend together and we will face the challenges presented to us as a family.