Theo and 'Boody'

Theo is really, really bad at sharing.

He will have his favourite toy of the day - usually a bus, or train, but at the moment it's Hugh's toy story character doll, Woody - and it's his. That's it. He won't let anyone near it, he won't let go of it to eat a meal or be belted in to his carseat.

Not only that, but he gets his way most of the time because he has an unbearable tantrum scream (not like Hugh's in the old days, which was that high pitched squeal - this is a yell/scream, loud, and lengthy, and repetitive) which will belt out of his tiny little body until someone says to one of his older brothers, would you PLEASE just do whatever you can to stop that noise! And toys are given back, or become unthreatened, or even just given to him regardless of who was playing with them in the first place.

The other area Theo gets his way is the school drop-off and pick-up. Every day, twice a day, we walk the children to Hugh's classroom and back from the car. Remembering that by 8.30am it's generally already 34deg (although the mornings are cooler the last week or so), and carrying my extra 10kg of baby fat (sigh - but that's another post) plus my chunky almost 2 year old while keeping in step with Nate, who is stopping to do a wee under the bush, or balancing carefully along the path's kerb. Most days there is an argument somewhere along the line - hurry up, we're late; no, you can't play on the playground today; stop yr tantrum and start walking! Anyway back to what I was saying!  Theo never wants to do what i feel like... if I'm in a hurry, or on a mission and I want to carry him, he wants to walk. And if I am hot and bothered and don't want to carry him, he wants to be carried. Fullstop- there's no arguing with this kid.

I guess that the reason he got to be this way is cos most of the time he's beautiful. He babbles everything that his big brothers say and copies everything they do, following them around the backyard looking for grasshoppers, leading Lily around in 'training', scooting on scooters, watching movies, sneaking into the pantry looking for snacks.  He has a beautiful sleep routine and gives loving cuddles and kisses while we look for the green sheep, and then turn out the light. He is the family door-shutter - if he passes a kitchen cupboard or drawer that is open, he has to shut it. He closes the car door behind us, and he takes things to the sink and bin, feeling very important. When nobody threatens to take his 'Boody' (as he calls Woody), he is actually mimicking Woody, mumbling things in a high-pitched voice and making the doll role-play with other random toys. When he pulls the string on his back, he will copy whatever it is that Woody says in the same accent.

At the moment, he is standing (on a stool) at the kitchen sink, finding himself a cup amongst the pile of dishes, getting himself a drink of water. Clever boy! He has needed his big brothers to do this task for him until this week.

He's not a bad kid, in Hugh's words he's just "a bad sharer". I don't know how to deal with the sharing thing, even though he's my third kid and i should. In a way, it's teaching us all a bit of patience. I will keep watching and waiting for him to grow out of it. This blog, for me, acts as a marker as to what's happening when and how badly we may need to do something about it later!