What He Does, She Does

[shadowedmoon]

You know when your kids are little babies, and all you want them to do is mimic and copy everything that you do?  That is a really bad idea.

Recently, my SS has reached an age where he does very abnoxious little boy things just to see how many colors he can make my face turn and how loud my voice will get.  I know what he's doing.  I know all about the phycological reasonings behind it, but when your getting off work and your exhausted and they won't stop making farting noises from the back seat no matter what you do!....Can get a little unnerving.

My SD, only being 10 months younger, and mentally overdeveloped for a girl her age, she has decided that this behavior is so funny when her brother does it, she's going to do it to.  She's old enough now to move past that "I'm the cutest little thing with blue eyes and you'll do whatever I want if I bat them at you and stand just so", into that "I'm really a 13 year old posing as a 3 year old and I'm trying to tell you this by what a snot I'm being" phases.

It's almost like having twins, except that they can't do that pretending to be the other child to avoid whats coming thing.  They've always done whatever the other did, but now they do it consciously and with motives.  It's driving me nuts!  I long for the days when my SD just sat in the back giggling quietly while my SS asked simple questions about cars and motorcycles.  Now he's making obcene jokes I have no idea where he got the words to form them, and telling his sister to do things he knows is naughty in a whispered voice so she'll get in troublt and not him....then she does it and then tells him to do something of equal annoiance before they're finally silenced by how loud the volume of the CD player got.

I just don't know how I'm going to get through this phase with grace and dignity.  Other than...you know...start putting them in extra activities for an hour and a half of peace once a week.  Sean's got so much energy, but I don't want him feeling like a commuter.  A kid that has no down time or familiar ground.  Pushed in and out of cars to the next practice or activity.  Leila loves every minute of it, so it wouldn't upset her to do 2 things a week since she's not in preschool yet.  Ballet and something else social.  Sean loves his karate class, and is interested in learning guitar.  But Sean's previous encounters with his BM taking over his schedule left him everywhere but home, and he started getting exhausted easily and antzy if we weren't on our way somewhere like he'd been programed like that.

I need to get my kids into seperate lives and activities.  I'm happy they have a strong bond as siblings, but if they spend too much time together, they fall into eachother's rythem of behavior and don't think or emote for themselves.  Particularly Leila.  I'll ask her a question or her opinion on something, and if her brother's there, his need to be the one with the attention drives him to telling Leila what to think and say and do.  And she will do it.  She idolizes her big brother.  They are both strong leaders when they are apart, and I need to get them away from leading eachother, and putting that energy and desire to good use, without turning them into kids who don't feel comfortable just being at home.