Big Brothers can be a lot of things. Pains in the butt. Protectors. Jesters. Instigators. Dictators. My 3 year old daughter has a big brother. He’s 8, and today I watched him be such a cool big brother, I could not stop beaming at the both of them.
We were at a mall playground. Yes it’s nearly the end of July, but here in the beautiful, wet, soggy Pacific Northwest, it has been raining for two days. This momma needed an out! We checked out the Lego store, then the Build a Bear store, followed up by the play ground. The very busy, crowded, germ-infested, petri dish, Lord of the Flies toddler play ground. My son is too big to play, so he sat with me and played with his Lego set. My daughter made a B-Line for the slide. While she ran to her destination, I noticed a Hulk-esque toddler running around tormenting other kids. His owner/handler was calling him Malachi. Go figure. I noticed this child, along with about 5 others, bulldozing their way to the top of the slide.
My daughter came back crying, “They didn’t let me take my turn!” Precious. Precious Princesses don’t get far in the play ground war zones. It’s every snot monster for himself. Slide or be trampled!
My son, hearing this, puffs up his chest, and very seriously tells me with his big blue Knight in Shining Armor eyes, “I’ll go, mom. I’ll help her.”
Now this could go one of two ways. He could be sweet and careful, or protective and aggressive. Seeing as how the other keepers didn’t feel managing their offspring high on their To-Do lists, I let it play out. I’m so glad I did! My daughter went to the top of the steps and my son made his body an “X” at the bottom. No one could come up behind her and push her aside.
Then the comedy began
My daughter, feeling high on her little sister horse, was too busy and astounded that he was doing this, she was looking back and watching him instead of going down the slide. This took time. Precious time. Meanwhile, a smaller kid came running towards the slide, saw my big X kid and decided to just go through his legs.
My son was so shocked, his jaw dropped and he looked back at me with a “WTF?!!” look.
Some parents have to wait until their children have kids to really soak in the karma/pay back, etc. Today I got a glimpse of my own and it was delicious!
My son had a great attitude about it and just took it as a challenge. That kid was allowed through. My daughter realized her time was up and slid down.
Not to be deterred, my daughter went up again and my son decided to try another pose. More like a side-facing “K”. The little tyke thought it was as cute as I did because he Red-Rovered right passed the big kid barricade like Santa was on the other side.
My son looked at me again, astounded. I couldn’t stop laughing. He just rolled with it, and now it had become more entertaining to my daughter than the slide.
Another incident caused my son to get whacked (lightly) across the face from another chubby hand, and like any professional performer sensing a pliable audience, went with it and allowed the gesture to knock him completely off his feet and onto the padded {smelly stinky crusty} carpet.
It went on and on this way for nearly ten minutes. My daughter had a champion, my son got to hone his Knight skills, and I got to see another facet of this incredible soul I had a part in creating.
He’s driven me batty at least 87 times since we’ve been home, but I just keep picturing snippets of his performance today, and it’s been a great reminder to take a minute, take a step back, let it go and appreciate where we are right now. Healthy, happy, and entertaining!
Sarcasmica 