Restoring the balance

I have been blogging a lot more about Big Bro than Little Bro, haven't I?

That's not because one is more exciting to me than the other, but more because Big Bro is so much more bloggable. He directs his attentions his own way, and comes up with his own ideas, and (most importantly) puts his thoughts into words, which are obviously so easy to
transcribe into this blog. Little Bro is here, patiently coming along with us to Big Bro-centred activities, relishing attention he gets from adults and children. But without words he doesn't fare so well in the quotable department.

Little Bro has also been at the poor end of the unwanted attention equation since he was born. Big Bro has the intention to be, as far as I can tell, a lovely brother for 98% of the time, with the
remainder usually involving mild attention-seeking strategies (like shrieking outside Little Bro's room at nap time). But there is a lot of well-intentioned offering of toys or hugs when Little Bro doesn't appreciate them. The latest "helpful" strategy from Big Bro is to tickle Little Bro with a hysterical "tickle tickle tickle" when Little Bro is complaining about something. Lovely intentions, in my opinion, but there are times that Little Bro doesn't appreciate it.

Recently, however, Little Bro has started to initiate his own well-meaning sibling interactions. His high chair sits next to Big Bro's chair at the table, and I am often asking Big Bro to refrain from excessive friendly poking, tickling and whatnot during meals. But now Little Bro has discovered he can play that game too- reaching out to grab Big Bro's leg, particularly when Big Bro hasn't been paying Little Bro much attention. When Big Bro looks over, Little Bro beams a
huge, cheeky grin: "Look, I know how to play this game too!"