In the past couple months, Kate has been having some sibling rivalry towards Maddie. It started with things like, “She’s watching MY cartoon!”, and continued with, “Don’t laugh at me, Maddie!” when Maddie was laughing or jabbering in her saucer.
Last night, we took them for their first ride together in the wagon. Our wagon has backrests and seats built in. We strapped Maddie in the seat that has her back to us, while Kate faced forward. There are a few holes in the bottom of the wagon for drainage. Maddie was looking down through the holes, interested in the fast-moving street she could see below. Kate didn’t like that, and sat with her feet strategically placed to prevent Maddie from seeing through. Any time Maddie’s feet touched Kate’s, we’d hear, “She’s kicking me!” Kate was holding a toy we had brought for Maddie, and whenever Maddie leaned towards Kate to reach her toy, Kate would complain.
At the end of the ride, I actually caught Kate leaning in towards Maddie, tempting Maddie to grab at her hair. When Maddie did, we heard, “Mommy, she’s touching me all over my body!”
My parents found all this quite funny. My mom said she can’t believe it’s started already, and warned me that this will go on for years. I remember my brother and I “drawing” lines down the middle of the back seat of the car to set boundaries. Who knows why kids do it, but apparently we all did it!
