Koen amazes me

Everyone has told me all along that Koen would be sensitive towards Payton and wouldn't you know, it's all ready becoming apparent that he wants to help her. We were getting ready to take Payton's blood pressure and she got anxious about it (it's rare anymore that she gets anxious over it, but every now and then it sneaks up again). Koen ran over to her side and grabbed her hand to hold it while daddy took her blood pressure. She still likes to have someone hold her hand when we take it and Koen has obviously seen us do this. Sure enough, he stepped in quickly to help her out. It absolutely melted my heart.

The other time I noticed it was when she was listening to a lullaby on Bob's iPhone. We always laugh because Payton seems to have a love/hate relationship with a lot of different noises. The noises she hates are the noises she is absolutely obsessed with. Train whistles, lullabies (they make her sad), the air compressor, Koen's nebulizer. She hates these things, but yet insists on find them and listening to them. Once the lullaby came on, she started crying and there goes Koen, running to her side and grabbing her hand to hold it. Beautiful.

Sunday morning Koen decided to go in and play on my treadmill (which he is normally unable to turn on, but unfortunately I did not take the key out of it and he turned it on high). Needless to say his feet flipped out from underneath him and he was pushed against the wall getting burned by the treadmill. He burned the back of his head (not bad, but enough to burn some hair out) and then got quite the burn on his arm. The doc gave us some medicine to put on it along with some bandages and wrap and he's doing really well with it. It sure has left a mark with Payton - everyone has heard about her brother getting burned and I'm sure she's talking about it all day at school. Even last night in the bathtub, Koen did great getting it wet. I just knew it would burn so bad when he got it in the water, but that little guy didn't cry at all. Man, I love that little guy.

Back to Payton.....I was disappointed yesterday at church when I heard some little boys making fun of Payton. I knew she would eventually get made fun of, but I wasn't really prepared for it at this age. The little boy sitting next to Payton laughed and told the boy next to her that Payton couldn't write. Ofcourse they started laughing and making fun of her and Payton really doesn't 'get' that they are laughing at her. So, she joins in the laughter. (and I might add - her laughter is full of so much joy, I love it). However, while she was laughing and clueless that the laughter was at her expense, my heart was breaking. I know all kids get made fun of but it just feels different because she doesn't 'get' it. I'm not ready for this yet. We notice kids staring at her more (I will be the first to admit that she doesn't understand how to play with the kids and does have some quirky behavior......but I so wish they wouldn't stare and give her weird looks).
Whew - we are so not ready for this.

*************Just got a call from the school nurse. Payton's got a headache, blood pressure is 130/80. Why does this instantly make me tired and sad? I so want her to feel good.