"i don't like Baby P anymore", said peanut to me while she was in the bathtub with her brother.
"Oh, that makes me sad that you would say that. Why don't you like him?"
I know this was only the first in a long line of conversations that we will be having until baby P is at least 25. She didn't really mean it. I don't think she really understood what she was saying. I tried to explain to her that he was a special type of friend. I told her that she wasn't always going to like him and that was okay. But she needed to be nice and say nice things to him because he was an important part of her life.
How do you explain the bonds of a sibling to a 3 year old? I can barely get my mind around them myself. Plus, my experience as a big sister is not going to be her experience. We are a lot alike, but I am willing to bet that Baby P is more like his father than my brother. For all I know, she might be the irresponsible of the two siblings. Baby P might follow the straight and narrow, and Peanut might need more guidance.
I don't want Peanut to think that she can get away with saying mean things, but I also don't want her to bottle things up. I try to talk through what she says with her so she will know better how to express her feelings. Most of the times she goes on and on about how much she loves her brother, but I think some of that might be a show too. I think she wants to emulate me and see me taking care of him all the time.
She loves him and loves to make him laugh. She also likes to take away the toys he is playing with. He tries to take away the toys she is playing with as well. In the bathtub he scoots over to where he is right on top of her and starts pulling on her toys. She screams "No. Baby P is torturing me." She pushes him back to "his side" of the bathtub only to look up a minute later with monster baby staring her in the eye again.
They are both a mess. Seeing them together makes me miss my own brother.
