When Joshua was born I thought about swaddling him in bubble wrap and/or buying him a miniature baby helmet to protect him from his bigger brother. Instead we just spent most of our time looming over Joshua to protect him from his incoming big brother who was usually running, often flailing and always bazonkers. It must be hard for a 3 year old to understand a baby. They don't talk, play or even make silly faces. Still, Liam did love his baby brother from the start and he "patiently" waited for Joshua to be able to crawl, and then walk and now run. And finally, they're on the same level now for playtime. It turns out that 5 year old humor is complimentary to 2 year old humor. While a 5 year old laughs whenever he says "poopy diaper", his 2 year old brother will almost always laugh just because the big brother is laughing.
It turns out Liam is really funny... to Joshua. In fact, Liam is just plain awesome in Joshua's eyes. Joshua will do just about anything Liam will do. Liam taught him how to jump in puddles, roll down the stairs and even knock over blocks and make a general mess of things. The other night I overhead Liam trying to persuade Joshua to jump down two steps instead of just one. "Come on Joshua, you tried one step, now try two! I can do three! Can you do three steps?" I answered the question for Joshua with a definitive "No."
My little brother and I used to chase each other in circles around the house until he would get too close. Then I would fling open the fridge door into his face and the whole scene would erupt into tantrums. Similar things seem to happen in my house. Instead of running in circles, Joshua and Liam prefer a more cooperative approach. They start at the end of the hallway (which to me is rather short, but to them it's the Autobahn), run and then hurl themselves onto our big chair. Then they burrow into the cushions, leap off and go back to start at the end of the hallway again. This usually can continue for awhile until someone gets squished or trampled or pushed over during the race (because Liam doesn't already have enough of an advantage in height, he sometimes needs to get Joshua out of the way).
Joshua and Liam love to dress alike. They particularly like to wear their superhero costumes and they don't at all mind when I dress them up as "twins" with the same shirts. If Liam has his umbrella, Joshy wants his umbrella (and it better match). If Liam is wearing his Crocs, then Joshua wants his Crocs. If Liam is in the pool, Josh wants to be in the pool. Joshua even likes to hang out with Liam in the bathroom. Liam may even be his favorite person, especially since Liam doesn't change his diapers and Joshua does hate to have his diapers changed.
Hmmm... maybe this whole copy-cat thing could work to my advantage. Liam does, after all, have some good habits. Tonight Liam was eating his lettuce so Joshua also ate his lettuce. Joshua hates lettuce. He didn't seem too happy with it, but he ate it anyway. Later in the evening Joshua even watched intently and copied how Liam brushed his teeth. Maybe I could get Liam to teach Joshua how to use the potty, get dressed by himself or at least blow bubbles in the water! Nah, that's not usually how parenting works. You can't always choose which behaviors the little ones pick up on. I might have been the one to teach my brother how to count to 10... but I was probably also the one who taught him how to jump off of swings (face first into the dirt).
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