Learning to share

Sharing his home with Missy has been an enormous challenge for the Rooster. Don't get me wrong, the Rooster adores his little sister, but having a small person who touches his beloved trains, cars and lego stretches his patience and we all know that 3 year olds have very little of that to tap into.

Over time he has learnt that Mummy's love and kisses are infinite, that his train track can be rebuilt and that in the end, Missy only wants to hold his things for about 2 minutes until her tiny concentration span gets distracted someplace else. He has discovered that having a playmate around can be a lot of fun and that her small strong legs, coupled with her very strong will enables her to keep up with him no matter how hard he tries to evade her.

A couple of weekends ago we had got an unexpected sleep in. Sure we were up at 5.30 (the Rooster is still a dawn riser) but we dropped back off, waking at quarter to nine to the sound of chatter on the monitor. We stumbled downstairs to find our pair munching their way through a packet of Arrowroots. "Don't worry mummy, I gave Missy some breakfast too!" he said ever so proudly. The cot was strewn with her toys, the floor covered with his race track and there were crumbs everywhere. The next week it was some smarties cookies we had baked for a birthday party and last week it was sultanas. Our children our on the way to self-sufficiency.

Just tonight Daddy was setting up a new train track for our fella, and carefully laid out beside his train table was a neat little bridge and a small run of track that the Rooster had made for Ellie. I'd like to think that he made it in a spirit of sharing and not as a deterrent to the real thing. I'd like to think that he moving away from egocentricity and growing towards unselfishness.

Our two get up to mischief but it is derived from pure delight. They giggle and share jokes that their mother will never get. Their laughs are indistinguishable as is the sound of their cries. Their gender will motivate their growing interests, but I truly hope that they will grow up to be the greatest of mates.