Buddies

Having our children relatively close together, it was our hope that the kids would be close enough in life stages that they would be able to be friends. Since Lucas was born, Elise has been a wonderful big sister. She brings him toys to play with, reminds him that has cannot eat the remote control ("because it's not soft"), "helps" change his diaper and reminds us to feed him when he is crying. But even though she says things like "Lucas is my best friend", for the first ew months they didn't really interact all that much. Let's be honest: a newborn is just not all that exciting to a two year old. He just lays there, sleeps and eats. She comes over to wherever he is laying, says hi to the baby, and then runs along to conduct her very important two year old business.

Ever since Lucas started sitting up, however, it's a whole new ball game. Suddenly, Elise is realizing that Lucas is not just a sleepy little guy that eats all the time - he's a playmate and a real friend. She can play ring around the rosy (sorta) with him. She can play Little People with him (although she yells at him a lot for trying to eat the Little People). She can play pat-a-cake and This Little Piggy with him. It's like having another baby doll, only she can get this one to laugh and she still gets to call all the shots.

Ellie's new found interest in her little "brudder" is not unrequited. Lucas is also much more enamored by his big sister. He has always been interested in watching what she's doing, but in the last few weeks he has come to think that Elise is the second coming of Johnny Carson. She doesn't even have to do or say anything specific, all she has to do is look at him (or in his general direction) and carry about her business and he laughs and laughs. He is not just tolerant of her cuddles and hugs and face pats - he loves them! Everything seems to be more fun when his big sister is around.

For a few weeks now, Lucas has been going to bed around 6:30pm. He tends to get cranky about a half an hour before bed, so we begin his bedtime routine which starts with a bath at about six. This can create quite a time crunch on the days we can't pick up the kids from daycare until 5:30. Sometimes it's just impossible to get his bedtime routine started before he kicks into cranky-tired mode. On the days we are unable to start bedtime early enough, he cries and cranks all the way through his bath, even though he usually really likes bath time. It was beginning to get really stressful to rush from work to daycare, then rush from daycare to home, and rush through Luke's dinner to get him in the bath so that he wouldn't just scream for his half hour bedtime routine.

So one night, in order to streamline our hectic evening, Marty suggested that we give Lucas and Ellie a bath at the same time. This small thing has been a life changer! Not only is it a time saver to bathe both kids at the same time (thus eliminating a two hour stretch of bedtimes for us), but they also entertain each other to no end. Elise spends the whole bath time making Lucas laugh (which distracts her while I wash her hair, which she hates) and Lucas spends the whole bath time laughing with his sister (which distracts him from the fact that he is tired and ready for bed). Evenings had become a dreaded time of day for us because of all the rushing and the tears, but this one little thing seems to have made all the difference.

Ellie calls Lucas her "little buddy" (i.e. "Hey, whatcha doing, little buddy?") and there could not be a more appropriate phrase. I am sure that the fighting will come with a fury in time, but for now, they genuinely enjoy one another's company and we are soaking up every minute of it.