Share with your brother!

Yes, it's happening more frequently now. Auden is crawling well and, of course, he's attracted to whatever his big brother is playing with, and, of course, Logan rails against his little brother touching anything that is his toy. Despite the fact that Logan has about 300 Hot Wheels cars, Auden cannot have one because he will drool on it. I feel like I'm reffing more than parenting. "Share with your brother! Give him a turn!" I thought maybe I could entice him to be nicer to his little bro by warning him: "Logan, you're teaching your little brother how to behave. If you play nice with him now, he'll play nice with you when he's bigger and share his toys" (even though this is completely untrue). No dice. Logan wants all the toys, even if they're designed for wee tikes. Interestingly enough, when Auden goes to play with something now, suddenly Logan thinks that toy is the most amazing object he's ever seen and must have it for himself. (The photo serves as proof.) Take today, for instance: Logan was playing with his tool bench, so I dragged out one for Auden. It's maybe a foot tall, has little pegs on the table-top that light up and sing when you smack them. Cute toy, but totally baby-ish. Logan never gave it the time of day before Auden came around. But today Auden plays with it, and Logan muscles him out of the way. "We can share it, Mom!" He said when I intervened. Then before I knew it, Logan strong-armed Auden again, knocking Auden's arms out from under him, which caused him to smack his mouth on the table part of the toy. At least Logan showed some remorse. He apologized, and after Auden had calmed down, he asked, "Is Auden alright?" I don't know if it's tougher being a younger or an older sibling, but I have a new appreciation for how tough it is being a mom of two siblings.

I myself am an older sibling, and I was pretty jealous of my little brother most of my childhood. I even tried to off him by throwing him a Tinkerbell tea party. I poured some of my Tinkerbell perfume into my tea cup and coaxed my brother to drink it. I swear, I didn't realize the seriousness of my actions until my mom figured out what had happened and called Poison Control, whose number was affixed to our home phone with a sticker--the white skull and crossbones peered down at me spookily from its black background. Then I was worried. Fortunately, Tinkerbell perfume isn't that toxic after all and Greg turned out OK. I thought I was pretty much the worst older sibling out there until I heard what my friend did to his younger sister. The movie ET was out that year, and he thought it would be a good idea to leave a trail of Reese's Pieces candies for his sister, who was a toddler at the time. The candy trail led out the front door of his house...into the street. When I heard that story, I laughed until I was in tears...and then I felt better about myself.

So I think we older siblings all have a real mean streak when the little ones come barging in and disrupt the motions of our parents' orbital patterns--because until he came along, the world totally revolved around me. I wonder what cruel things Logan will try on Auden...But seeing as how Auden is quite a bit larger than Logan was at this age, I'm thinking this little guy will give as good as he gets. Just to be on the safe side though, I can tell you that Logan won't be getting any Handy Manny aftershave for his birthday this year--if they even make that stuff.