Roomies

Moving the kids into the same room was a great idea overall.  I'm finding that they are playing together more often and for longer. Boogie still has a hard time saying, "our room" versus "my room," but he's doing fine.  Buggy loves sharing a room with Boogie. She adores him and loves to do whatever he is doing.

One thing that we have been trying to work on is finding a space for Boogie to play by himself without his little sister.  She wants to follow him everywhere and sometimes he just wants his space. I think that's fine and I'm okay with that. However, he taught her how to work the doorknobs so he really doesn't have a space to himself. Even though the nursery is free, we try to keep that door closed as much as possible because Buggy keeps calling it her room. We want her to let go of the attachment of that room and know that it's Baby J's room.

Just the other day Boogie went down to the basement to play with his trains and his new-to-him train table courtesy of his cousins. The door to the basement is a little sticky (we have to get it fixed) and takes a little more muscle than a 2 year old has to open it. But Boogie took advantage of it and went downstairs to get some space. I found Buggy crying her heart out at the closed basement door.  It was so bad I thought she was hurt. She was...but not physically. Her little heart was broken that her big brother didn't want to play with her. I have to say Boogie handled it well and politely said, "Buggy, I just want some alone time." He had already played and ran around the house with her for over an hour before.  Because he was kind when he spoke to her and he really did play with her quite a bit, I supported his decision. I tried to comfort her, but to no avail.  I had to go to the basement to take care of the laundry and asked if she wanted to join me. I told her she could say "hi" to Boogie, but that she was supposed to stay with me in the laundry room. She jumped at the chance.  She stood at the door of the laundry room waving at him for a good 30 seconds. He did acknowledge her and continued to play.  She joined me in the laundry room and helped me to transfer clothes to the dryer. When we were done she sat near him and began playing with the other trains. I think because we respected Boogie's request for space and time, he did not fuss one bit about her playing around him. They still didn't play together, but Boogie did a good job sharing his tracks and trains and she did a good job playing around him without bothering him. I think she just wanted to be near him.

I like the friendship the two of them are developing.  They are becoming friends and Boogie tries to help Buggy when he can. He taught her the trick of how to get her jacket on  by herself by flipping it over her head. He tries to help her with her shoes when Mama can't do it. He tries to interpret her cries when I can't figure out what's bothering her.  She of course adores him and loves to be with him. I think her favorite part of her day is when we get to pick him up from preschool and she sees him after her nap.

I hope this friendship continues to grow. I'm so proud of my big kids. They are also very excited about being siblings to Baby J. and talk about him coming out all the time. Just the other day both kids put their heads on my tummy at the same time (Yes, I am really that big!) and chanted, "Come out, come out. We want to see you!"