Av informed me recently that she wishes she lived with her cousins, and that Elena was the cousin she visited twice a year instead of her sister. Ahh, love. I think all older siblings have these thoughts, though. And when you're five, you think nothing of saying them out loud. To wit, earlier this evening we were all upstairs in the play room for wind-down time before bed. Av was dressed up elaborately as a magic fairy named "Selena," demonstrating the powers of her wand and engaging the rest of the family in her scenario. I asked her if she was the only magic fairy or if there were others, and she replied that her little sister was a fairy as well.
"Oh," I said, "and what's her name?"
"Her name is.....Gross." This struck me funny. "Ah," I replied, trying not to laugh too hard and thus reinforce this bit of knavishness, "why is that?"
"Uhm, because she poops in her pants and because she puts stuff in her mouth that's not food." She was enjoying my amusement a little too much, so I steered the subject in another direction. Eventually.
I try not to make too big a deal about sibling jealousy - most of it is completely normal, and a little joking at the toddler's expense is harmless....for now, anyway, while she still doesn't quite get it. That won't last much longer. But sometimes Av needs to let off a little steam about the difficulties of having a baby for a sibling. I'm grateful that she lets off that steam by joking and laughing, rather than the alternatives. She's such a good big sister - always kind, always trying to help, and when she does feel jealous or put on a shelf she takes it out on me, rather than the baby. Or she just simply tells me how she's feeling, and we talk about it for a minute or I try to do something to make up for it. Pretty amazing, I think, for a kid her age. I don't take credit for that, either - that's just her.
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