As bedtime approached, I overheard 10-year-old Jacob discussing the status of a wart on his 5-year-old little brother Ben’s big toe.

Jacob: “Wart medicine really hurts.”

Ben: “No, it doesn’t.”

Jacob: “Yes, it does.  Have you used wart medicine before?”

Ben: “Yes, two times.”

Jacob: “Oh, the third time hurts real bad.”

Thanks Jacob, I see a budding career as a physician assistant in your future.

Later, I arrived upstairs to see 7-year-old Sam close to tears.

Dad (me): “What’s the matter?”

Sam: “I lost my yearbooks.”

All of a sudden, 10-year-old Jacob emerges from his room holding two yearbooks.

Jacob: “Don’t cry.  Here are your yearbooks.”

Dad (me): “Why did you have Sam’s yearbooks in your room?”

Jacob: “When you guys were cleaning, you must have taken Sam’s yearbooks and put them in my cubby.”

Oh, yeah. That’s it.  Of course, your bumbling parents were the source of all disruption and unhappiness.  I should have known.  Duh.

Jacob Paulsen, supplying his own special brand of brotherly love (and trickery), since 2007.