history repeating

i'm doing to belly exactly what i hated my mom doing to me when i was growing up... asking her to look out for her sister, help me keep bulilit busy while i'm busy doing something else, get something for bulilit because i'm in the middle of something and can't get to it right then. the list goes on.

when i was a kid, when all the cousins would hang out, my mom would make me the responsible one. "watch out for the others!" she would say. and i always blamed that as the reason i "drifted further" earlier than the rest of them (nevermind that i was between 3-5 years older so it probably made sense that i would have different interests before they would). looking back, i don't resent it now as much as i thought i did back then.

but now i catch myself doing exactly the same thing to belly. i guess it's a hazard of being a first-born (girl, especially), since i can't do everything myself and when it's just the 3 of us here at home, i need an extra pair of hands and belly's always been the first to volunteer to help. yes, even at the age of 2 and 3! maybe it's just in her personality... i always say that my two kids are like night and day when it comes to how they are! clean/messy, emotional/lets things roll off her back, cautious/adventurous.

so today, i'm thankful for belly and her big sister attitude--willing to always help me out with her sister! also thankful that bulilit was not a handful today and they both played very well together with very few fights and tears! definitely made the day a lot easier for mommy.