#6 - A Heart Grows Bigger

 

Brodie swirled his spoon through his Weet-Bix, watching the little wheat biscuits turn soft in the milk. Next to him, his little brother Tommy was turning his eggs and bacon into a happy face, complete with a milk moustache to match the one on his face. It was just another ordinary morning in their sunny kitchen – but everything was about to change.

"Kids," Mum said, her eyes sparkling like morning sunshine on the harbour, "Dad and I have ripper news!" She reached for Dad's hand, and they both grinned like kookaburras. "We're going to have a new bub!"

Brodie’s spoon clattered against her bowl. Tommy's milk moustache drooped.

"A... a baby?" Brodie whispered, his six-year-old mind spinning like a show ride at the Royal Easter Show. "But we're already a perfect family. It's just right with four of us!"

Tommy, who had just turned four, nodded his head like a bobbing joey. "Yeah! I'm the baby. That's my special job!" His bottom lip wobbled like jelly.

That night, as Brodie lay in bed counting the glow-in-the-dark stars stuck above his bed, he couldn't help but worry. Would Mum still have time to quiff his hair in the morning? Would Dad still take him to soccer practice? And worst of all – would he have to become one of those "responsible big brothers" who had to change nappies and watch the baby all the time?

Tommy hugged his stuffed kangaroo, Joey, extra tight in the room next door. He wondered if anyone would remember to cut the crusts off his Vegemite sandwiches anymore or if they'd still have time for their special Saturday morning pancake parties.

The months passed like a stream in the bush. Mum's tummy grew rounder and rounder until she looked like she'd swallowed a watermelon whole. The spare room transformed into a nursery, filled with soft yellows and greens, like wattle blooming in spring.

 

One day, while Brodie was helping Dad put together the cot (though mostly he was just handing him the wrong spanner), he gathered up his courage. "Dad," he began, twisting his hair nervously, "will you still love me as much when the bub comes?"

Dad put down his tools and pulled Brodie onto his lap even though he insisted he was "practically grown up now."

“Buddy,” he said, using his special nickname, "do you know what happens to a heart when a new baby joins the family?"

Brodie shook his head.

"It grows bigger," Dad explained, spreading his arms like a wedge-tailed eagle. "Love isn't like a lamington that needs to be cut into smaller and smaller pieces. It's more like a balloon that keeps getting bigger, making room for more and more love."

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Tommy was helping Mum fold baby clothes (though mostly he was making tiny clothing billabongs). "Mum," he mumbled into a particularly soft onesie, "will I still be special when I'm not the littlest anymore?"

Mum scooped him up (as best she could with her watermelon tummy) and kissed his nose. "Tommy, you'll always be our special little mate. And you know what? You're going to be something even more amazing – a big brother! That's one of the most important jobs in the whole wide world."

Tommy's eyes grew round as an arnotts wagon wheel. "More important than playing for the Wallabies?"

"Even more important," Mum assured him. "Because you'll be teaching the baby all sorts of wonderful things – like how to build the best cubby houses and where to find the crunchiest gum leaves."

 

The day the baby arrived was more exciting than Christmas and the footy grand final combined. Nan came to stay with Brodie and Tommy while Mum and Dad went to the hospital. The hours stretched like hot toffee as they waited for news.

Finally, Dad called with the most magical words: "Come meet your baby sister!"

 

Brodie and Tommy tip-toed into Mum's room at the hospital, quiet as possums. There, wrapped up like the most precious prezzie ever, was their baby sister.

"This is Lucy," Mum whispered.

Brodie peered at the tiny face, all pink and new. Lucy's eyes opened – they were as blue as the Great Barrier Reef – and seemed to look right at him. Something wonderful happened then: Brodie's heart did exactly what Dad said it would. It grew bigger and bigger until he thought it might burst with love.

Tommy stood on his tippy-toes to get a better look. "She's so tiny," he gasped. "Like one of my toy koalas, but real!" When Lucy wrapped her teensy fingers around his pointer finger, Tommy's face lit up brighter than the Sydney Opera House at night.

The first few weeks with Lucy were like learning to ride a bicycle – wobbly, but soon they found their rhythm. Brodie discovered that being a big brother wasn't about having less love or more chores – it was about having a new best mate to protect and teach. He loved showing Lucy how to blow bubbles in the backyard and singing her special lullabies about kookaburras and cockatoos.

Tommy turned out to be the world's best at making Lucy laugh. He would make silly faces and do his famous "kangaroo hop" (learned from Joey, of course), and Lucy would giggle so hard her whole tiny body would shake with joy.

Yes, sometimes Mum was too tired to quiff Brodie’s hair, but that's when Brodie learned to comb it himself – and he felt as proud as a peacock when he mastered it. Sometimes, Dad couldn't take him to soccer practice, but that meant Nan took him instead, and Nan always bought a Splice ice cream on the way home.

 

And yes, sometimes Tommy had to wait a little longer for his sandwich to be made, but that's when he learned to help make them himself. He even figured out how to cut off his own crusts (with Dad keeping an eye out, of course). He felt as grown-up as a big red kangaroo!

One afternoon, as the whole family cuddled together on the big couch for storytime, Brodie looked around at his family. Mum was feeding Lucy. Dad was doing all the silly voices for Tommy's favourite book about a wombat. Tommy was showing Lucy his newest texta masterpiece. And Brodie realised something wonderful: their family hadn't gotten smaller with Lucy's arrival – it had grown bigger in every way that mattered.

"You know what?" Brodie announced to everyone and no one in particular, "I reckon five is the perfect number for our family."

Tommy nodded wisely. "Yeah, five is heaps better than four. That's just maths!"

Lucy chose that moment to make a happy gurgling sound, as if she was saying "Too right!"

And so, the little family of five snuggled closer together, their hearts growing with each passing day, proving that love really is the most magical maths of all – the more you share it, the more it multiplies, fair dinkum.