>Cousins

>So as of right now, Sebastian is obviously an only child.  He had a time last year when he had a best friend who was with him 5 days a week, but since I took leave from work, he’s back to being Numero Uno.  He is also more the quiet, observant type when we’re out and about, so overall he doesn’t spend a lot of time actually playing with other children.  In the past he has shied away from hugs and refused to share toys in typical toddler style.  But all that changed this weekend, when we got to take another trip to visit his auntie and his cousin X in B.C.

Now his cousin is a much more outgoing fellow, three months older than Sebastian, who always wants to hug him, say hi to him, and show him his toys.  Sebastian has agreed to hold his hand once, and to be in the same room with him, at least, but I wasn’t expecting the reaction we got when my sister and I encouraged the boys to say hi and give hugs when they got together on Friday night.  A mutual hug!  They both walked to each other and leaned their little heads in.  Heartwarming is an unbearably cheesy word, but really it was.

The only downside to all this family love was that Sebastian felt comfortable enough to stick up for himself if X wanted to play with the toy he had chosen and tried to grab it away.  Normally Sebastian’s reaction is to either stand and look stunned, or look at me, point, and wail.  Not this time.  He wailed all right, along with giving X a shove that said he meant business.  Oh boy.  The next day and a half were spent trying to explain that we do not push people and teaching him to say, “No thanks” or “It’s my turn.”  That’s right, we actually encouraged Sebastian to say a thing like “my turn.”  We know, you’re shaking your head and laughing, but at least that’s better than shoving, right?

So sharing is hard, especially if you have a great little truck that everyone wants to push or ride.  And in the world of parallel play, it’s difficult to convince the boys that they can do something together, but by the last day, they did it!  We got a great video of them taking turns as one of them rode the truck and the other pushed it – around and around and around the kitchen island.  Priceless.  Sadly I don’t have time right now to upload the video, so you’ll have to take my word for the fact that it was pretty cute.

Since I grew up seeing my cousins a lot and having the best times with them, I am overjoyed to see the love and friendship grow between Sebastian and his cousin, too.  Though I do wonder how long it will be before we have to break up the wrestling matches.