On Saturday a couple and their two kids came over to see our house. They're building the same model house as ours, and wanted to get ideas on where to put lighting, furniture, etc. They have a five year old girl, and four year old boy who we invited to play and watch TV in the living room while Krista showed the couple around.
On the ground floor our rooms form a big circle around our stairway, and the girls love to run laps around it when they're excited. Sydney was excited to have kids over, so as soon as Krista put her down to show the couple our kitchen, Syd took off on a dead run. The boy and girl thought she was cute, so they ran after her and eventually caught up to her near a corner in the wall. They stopped her, and, with one on them on each side of her, proceed to give her a hug. I was keeping an eye on this from about 10 feet away, to make sure they weren't choking her or tackling her. To me, it was just two kids being nice and giving a baby a hug.
This view was not shared by Brooklyn. As soon as she saw the kids stop Sydney and grab on to her, she sprinted up and put Sydney in a bear hug. Even though Brooklyn was smaller than the other two kids, she was able to wrestle Sydney out of their hugs. Then, still holding Syd in a bear hug, Brooklyn pushed Sydney into the corner, with her back to the other kids in an effort protect Sydney. After a few seconds, Sydney tried to get out, but Brooklyn wouldn't let her go. I still hadn't quite figured out what was going on, but eventually it dawned on me that Brooklyn had 'rescued' Sydney. Brooklyn let her go when I got over there, and Sydney took off at a dead run back into the living room.
Brooklyn went over to Krista and said 'Hold hands, mommy, hold hands, I want Sydney.' She was trying to get all four of us to be holding hands. Then, when the two kids wanted to play with her toys, she wouldn't let them have them. Finally, she let the girl play with her drum. I tried to talk her into letting them play with her toys, but I wasn't too hard on her- I knew she wasn't being bratty, she just didn't want to have anything to do with kids who would try (to her) to hurt her little sister.
After the couple left, I told Krista what had happened, and she just about started crying with pride. Krista said, 'Wow, that's why she was giving that boy the icy glare the whole time. I thought Brooklyn was just really tired and needed a nap.'
We brought Brooklyn over and praised her for hugging Sydney to protect her. I asked her what happened, and she said, "Kids trying to get Sydney!". Of course, the net result was that she thought we were praising her for bear hugging Sydney, rather than actually protecting her, which meant Sydney spent most of the rest of the evening firmly in Brooklyn's arms whether she wanted to be or not. But we're still really proud of her.
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