Monday Club - When A Baby Becomes A Playmate

Good morning.

I hope everyone has had a good weekend.  This is my first Monday Club post; the Monday Club being the creation of TheVoiceOfSarahMiles .  Do take a look at the other blogs & blog posts on this link, and thanks Sarah for getting this up and running!

So here's what I have been thinking about today...

When A Baby Becomes A Playmate

There has been a lovely change in the dynamics between our children over the summer.

This is largely due to the fact that baby M, now toddling and trying to talk, has also been discovering how to play and interact.

We’ve had the newborn stage of her being unaware even of the twins’ existence; we’ve been through the newly mobile stage of M grabbing whatever toy or object the twins have at the time and vanishing with it, oblivious to the frustrated wailing behind her (this phase felt like it lasted for a verrrry long time); we’ve also been through a similar stage of toy-pinching whereby she has twigged that the wails are related to her actions….but the little monkey runs off, proud and chuckling to herself, with whatever “treasures” she’s acquired regardless.

As for now, now is the stage that I love most, so far.  Little M is copying her big sister L, and is pretending to cook in the toy kitchen or learning to feed her dolly.  Likewise she is copying her big brother H and happily pushes cars and trains around the house accompanied by “brrm brrm” noises.  (Yes, I know – very stereotypical).

Even better, to H & L, is the fact that not only does M love to play alongside them, she is also learning to take turns, and (sometimes!) gives a toy on request. 

As L and little M played together yesterday, L informed me “I really like playing with M, Mummy, she’s like my friend now”.

I may well have rose-tinted glasses writing this; there's still wailing, fighting and toy-pinching, and plenty of it....but for now, it's just so lovely to see the baby become a playmate.