And that is that.

This morning I was retouching Beti's hair before she left for school. She asked me, "Mom, can you tell Abe 'bye' for me when he wake up?"

She'd never asked this before. I said, "Um, okay?"

"Because I love him."

Half an hour later, he woke up, came downstairs, stood on the toilet to look out the bathroom window at the snow. I told him what his sister said.

He looked at me, was quiet for a beat, shrugged, put his thumb back in his mouth and matter-of-factly said, "Well, I love her too."