Handful

I have recently started babysitting a little boy a few days a week. I’ll call him Baby because that’s what Lego calls him. Baby just turned one, so he’s about four months younger than Lego. He’s also quite a bit heavier—Lego is about 5th percentile for weight, and Baby is 95th. They’re about the same height. It doesn’t seem to matter to Lego that Baby is bigger than him; Lego knows that since he can walk and talk and Baby can’t, he’s the Big Kid.

The problem is, Lego is just a little jealous of Baby. Baby comes over, plays with his toys, sits on my lap sometimes, eats in his high chair, and even gets to snuggle with me when he’s taking his bottle and getting ready for a nap. When Lego thinks Baby has crossed a line, Lego retaliates by pulling Baby’s hair, pushing Baby over, hitting Baby in the face, or sitting on Baby. I spend too much time telling Lego to be soft, to be nice, and to stop doing whatever he’s doing to torment Baby. Lego got a time out yesterday, and I’m pretty sure he knew what he’d done to earn it. I hope he learns soon that Baby is not actually a threat.

The other day, I needed to go to the post office to pick up the mail that had accumulated there while we were on vacation. I knew I would be watching Baby for the next few days, so unless I wanted to wait until Friday, I’d have to go with both boys. At the post office, I put Baby in the stroller and asked Lego to help me “push the baby.” He did just fine until we got to our spot in line, at which point he decided he didn’t want to stop pushing the baby. When I held the stroller in place, he got bored and ran off. Not wanting to leave Baby alone in line, I called Lego back a few times before he obeyed. While I picked up my mail, Lego alternated between running off and pestering Baby*.

I think I know now why they invented double strollers.

*For the record, Lego is usually well behaved. This post makes him seem like a hellion, though. Maybe I should post soon about how cute he was this morning.