Discovering Nature, Together, originally uploaded by tadnkat.
My sister and I have always been really close. I literally can only remember one fight I ever had with her, and that’s because she mistakenly whalloped me over the head with her cabbage patch doll (they hurt!!)
But that closeness that we had in growing up, in learning things, discovering life, exploring — that was a big factor influencing my wanting to have two kids. I wanted them to always have a friend in growing up.
Well, now that my son is almost 10 months old, I’m starting to see that. More and more, he wants to be hanging around his big sister, checking out whatever cool stuff she’s doing. He looks up to her like she is the lord incarnate – mostly because of all of the running & jumping she is capable of.
Up until recently, she’s mainly tolerated him, and would occasionally show him things, give him a toy, etc. But lately, she’s been taking much more of an interest in being his mentor – and his buddy.
You can see in the picture above, that on our day’s nature hike today, she was busy showing him rocks and leaves and flowers and such the moment they were out of the stroller. It was too cute to bear.
But this one took the cake (and was a valuable lesson for me in actually communicating with your toddler): After our hike, my son was pooped and passed out. He woke up in pain (upper teeth coming in – they’re like walrus tusks – ouch) and then went back to sleep after getting some homeopathic teething tablets. Mackenzie didn’t seem to want to let him fall back asleep though. She kept doing little things that she knew would wake him up.
Finally, after getting him to sleep for the third time, I took my daughter out and had a talk with her. I first thought that she was just being sassy due to needing her own nap, but after pulling & asking, I found out that she wanted to wake him up simply because she really just wanted her brother to play with her.
How’s that for a lesson in “terrible twos”. Once again – the moral of the story is talk to them and don’t assume they’re just “being difficult”.
But that’s also a lesson in how deeply even a 2-year-old can love their little brother.
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Owing to the above, I’d highly recommend any parent – especially one that’s going to be dealing with “terrible twos” take the free on-line course on “Children” available at ScientologyCourses.org. There’s a video here that explains why.