Last Thursday and Friday were special days for my Eli and me. I was reminded through our activities together that he is just 3-years-old and I should probably do more things with him that a boy of his age likes to do! Since then, I have been sitting on the idea for this post and wondering how I could eloquently place my words together in a manner that would adequately give justice to the tenderness of the topic. (wink wink!) But then I realized that I was putting too much pressure on myself and should just write it! For heaven’s sake, even! Writing often comes easiest to me when I do it conversationally instead of college-thesis-ally (I just made up that word because I can!)

There might be one problem though, with writing conversationally, and that is moving off my point at an instant’s notice!

Back to Eli. You see, when his brother was 3-years-old, he was the only child and I was able to treat him as such because,well, he was! And, I didn’t know any other way! We made regular story-time visits to the library; we went on outings to the outlet mall together; we explored many new parks (one summer I even made it a goal to visit at least one new park each week!); we played Thomas Trains the way they were intended to be played; we read sweet books about ducks and monkeys and Clifford and Go Dog Go! We planted tulip bulbs and made crafts according to each approaching season…

I realized last week that it isn’t always as easy to treat the second child like a first child. What I mean is, is that days seem busier, schedules seem more demanding, and well, time. Excuses? Probably, but also reality. So, I have to prioritize and make a real effort to fit in first child quality with my second child.

Eli thrived at library story time on Thursday (this isn’t the first time I’ve taken him, we just don’t go as frequently as with Logan). He smiled when 3-year-olds smiled and participated in Where is Thumpkin when all the other 3-year-olds did. Everything was age-appropriate.

We traveled up north about an hour to the outlet mall on Friday, telling stories the whole way, then browsing around, running on the side-walks and leaping from decorative rock to decorative rock…Eli loves to tell stories. He starts them by saying, “Once upon a time…” but in the way only Eli says it best, “Pon-a-time…”

So, I will tell you a little story.

Pon-a-time…there was a little boy named Eli who was delightfully born into a loving family with a big brother and a happy mom and dad. Eli rounded their family out wonderfully and grew each year into a lively, full-of-character little boy. As soon as he could, he was scooting, then crawling, then toddling, then running, jumping, kicking, leaping and bounding after his big brother. 

There, Thomas the Train lay on the sidelines while R2-D2, Han Solo, Darth Vader took center stage. Duplo Legos always ended up in the toy box while bigger-guy Lego sets of Ninjago, Alien Conquest and Power Miners always vied for his interest. 

Blasting, exploding, dueling, defeating were words (and sounds)  that most often took over for  friendlier sounds of vrooming, choo-chooing and blasting off. Thomas the Train and his friend Bertie the Bus weren’t just out for a ride on the tracks, but instead looked for  a battle…

The End

Ha! Well, some ending, right? But, that is the point…there isn’t an end. We are in a transition stage here. I will vow to offer Eli the most age-appropriate, friendly, loving play and activities that I can until big brother comes home and impresses upon little brother the life of a 1st -grader.

P.S. I am in no way in criticism of Logan. He did not wake up one morning and maliciously decide that he would impress older things upon his brother. And, in our defense, there is still plenty of play-doh, hide-n-seek, parks, projects, etc…but it’s like I said, Thomas’s personality has changed, that’s all. 😉

I believe it is a matter of circumstance that younger siblings simply look up to their older ones and most often find their world’s just a little more exciting perhaps. Yes, I miss the innocence that Logan once had that Eli is perhaps experiencing in other ways…but I am very much aware of it, and it certainly means enough to me to try and curb his direct-track to a 7-year-old back to that of a 3-year-old.

Have you experienced this? How do you handle it?