The greatest bond

The greatest bond must be between a child and his mother, but close enough, is the friendship and love of a child. Alex was never interested in my nephews or any other kids for that matter.
Nicolas is a very cute kid and good fun. He, like Jacques before him, were always intrigued by Tonton Alex, I assume because he is so aloof, it is a rare sight for these kids who attract attention. Jacques left the aloof Tonton Alex well alone and that was fine by Alex, however the little one thought differently and worked his way into Tonton Alec's heart. Ha ha! that was no typo, x is a difficult letter for a 3-year old and so it is Alec.

It all started one fine morning after Christmas.
N: "Tata, where is Tonton Alec?"
Me: "He's sleeping"
N: "But Why?" (his favorite sentence)
Me: "Because it is still early and he slept late"
N: "Are you going to wake up Tonton Alec?"
Me (Surprised): "do you want to wake up tonton Alex?"
The little one nodded, so I carried him upstairs and sat on the bed and told Nicolas to wake up his tonton. There, he felt very shy and pointed his finger at me. (his way of saying 'you do it').
So I woke up tonton Alex, and Nicolas was very shy hanging on to me like dear life and did not say a word, so I took him back downstairs and sat him next to his brother. On my way out, I heard:
N: "Jacques, Jacques, I woke up Tonton Alec!" said he very proudly.

So that became a game between the naughty little Nicolas and the distant Tonton Alex. Thereafter, the two became great friends, playing at threatening each other at the dinner table with the knife (Tonton Alex) or the decorative gold nuggets (for Nicolas). Then Nicolas would call on me and whisper in my ear that "Tonton Alec is very naughty", which led to a conversation of this kind:

N: Tonton Alec is naughty
Me: Why?
N: He's using his knife
Me: It's dinner. He's eating. You're also naughty.
N: Points finger at tonton Alex
A: You're naughty
N: No. you're naughty
A. No. You're naughty
N: No. You are.

Every morning, Nicolas woke up his Tonton and made Tonton read a book about marine life. I have to say that Alex particularly enjoyed the fact that Nicolas is curious ("But Why?" syndrome, without abuse) and impressed the two of us with his knowledge on sharks and insects and dinosaurs, although Jacques is the expert at dinosaurs.

I also had my share of cute conversations with Nicolas and Jacques but this was well worth reporting.