Wanting to be "big"

As the "little" sibling, I understand why you want to be just like your "older" sibling....but why do we want this so bad?

The same goes on in my house.  My boys are only 19 months apart.  They have never known life without each other.  But I remember the baby stage with my 6 year old.  We watched Sesame Street and Blue's Clues.  We sang songs and I talked with him and taught him how to do his firsts.  I spent undivided time with him because it was just the two of us during the day.

But my 4 year old seems to have missed all of that.  I know I spent one-on-one time with him when his brother took a nap.  I know he reached all of his milestones...he would still be sitting in a crib if he didn't.  But somewhere along the way, he is just "big."

He never really watched Sesame Street or Blue's Clues.  He was too busy watching Super Why or WordGirl because that's what his big brother wanted.  He went straight from playing with foam blocks to Matchbox cars.

My "baby" seemed to skip some stages because he was too busy trying to be as big as his brother.  And he still does it now, but every now and then I see his age come through.

He's too scared of roller coasters, Scooby Doo, and Superhero movies because he's four.  He doesn't have the attention span for Legos, Wii games, or Monopoly Junior because he's four.

And just when I think my "baby" is all grown up, I catch him watching Little Einsteins and singing and dancing along and I know that he's still four.  But don't tell him that because he'll stop being four....and go back to acting six like his brother.


Alexis