What Goes Around….

What goes around… comes around, right?

 Emma & Ethan are a big 21 months apart. For quite some time now we have been telling Emma to “be nice”, “don’t hit”, “please share”, “he is going to be your best friend” etc in regards to Ethan. Of course she did as she pleased, but we oftentimes told her “Ethan is going to be bigger than you someday… be nice!”. 

Emma is our tiny girl. All of my children are 100th %ile and larger babies, except Emma. She started in the 25th %ile and has clawed her way to the prestigious 50th %ile (insert confetti here). Although they have almost 2 years between them they are almost the same size. Emma weighs in at a big 35 pounds, Ethan at a whopping 32 pounds. I haven’t checked lately, but in my estimate they are maybe 1-2 inches apart in height. 

That being said… we are back at the “what goes around” phase of this post. For 2 years now Ethan has been picked on, poked at, pushed down, scratched, pinched, punched, sat on, screamed at and had toys stolen from him.

 “Comes around”… Just recently my sweet little guy has had a breakthrough (insert Twisted Sister’s We’re Not Gonna Take It here). He has realized he can “take” his big sister. Emma likes to “hog” the stairs and put her arms out so Ethan can’t pass… Ethan has decided he likes to take her by the pony tail and MOVE her out of the way as she screams in complete shock and horror (you can add the screaming at the top of your lungs sound effects here). Just yesterday Emma decided she did not want Ethan to watch “her movie”. She marched across the room (Ethan had complete tunnel vision on the television screen) and smacked him across the face. Today she got another dose of  “comes around”. I was not in the room, but I heard a smacking noise and a shriek from Emma. Apparently Ethan was mad about a toy issue and he took his plastic pull-behind dog and cold cocked her. My first response (on the inside of course *big grin*) was to laugh… maybe cheer for him? lol He, of course, was put into time out and then made to apologize (as she has been for her previous offenses).

What do you do with quarreling toddlers/preschoolers?? Do you let them duke it out to establish pecking order? Do you intervene? This is my first experience with children so close together. My children are 18, 13, 3 1/2 and 2… this is a whole new ball game for me!  Let me have it ladies (and gents)…