Down with the kids

Today a new mum asked me whether having 2 is “twice as hard” as having 1. The best analogy I could find to described it was moving up a level in a video game. It’s basically the same skills, but it’s faster and there are some surprises out there!

The current challenge is to keep Little Bro alive and out of hospital. Everything goes in his mouth - and anything that can, will be pulled over on top of himself. With 1 it was easy to make sure all immediately lethal items were either put up high or secured to the wall. With 2 there is no chance of doing this because as fast as an area is arranged Big Sis reenters and rearranges! You think an area is clear and then discover that in the 30 seconds it took to go to the bathroom (yes - I am very fast these days) Big Sis has decided to set up an elaborate and impenetrable game involving the spreading of handfuls of tiny swallowable beads across the couch.

How does Little Bro survive day after day you ask? My only explanation is that I have actually developed eyes in the back of my head. I can be at the other end of the house and have a premonition that will send me rushing to discover the baby gate on the stairs has been penetrated - or that Little Bro has all of Big Sis’ farm animals in his mouth. It’s very spooky!

Big Sis talks constantly to her little brother and he replies with little grunts and his favourite all purpose word - “duck”. She likes to tell him that he is her “best friend” and a “lovely baby”. She loves to designate what he should play with and what is “too special”. Little Bro hates it when she’s out of sight and will crawl frantically from room to room yelling “NANANANA” - which we think is his own interpretation of Big Sis’ name.

So I guess the answer is it is hard sometimes - maybe even twice as hard - but as Big Sis would say, it’s mostly very, very special.