Dan and Ben Playing Together & video

Posted by spots (Singapore, Singapore) on 4 June 2008 in People & Portrait and Portfolio.

Here's a happy shot of the two brothers playing together. This, by the way, is happening more often these days. They like to burst into rooms together, play with the same toys (usually masak masak or lego blocks) and even play peekaboo (or at least, their version of it) - as illustrated in this video.

It's really fun to see them together. One boy that is talkative and very loud. And another one that hardly says anything at all! One pottering around in diapers. And the other with his underpants falling down. ^__^

And of course, they do fight too. Daniel is most frequently saying things like, "No, Benjamin, no! Don't touch my things!" and Benjamin responds with a RWOAAAR! There is also some pushing and shoving. All of which is duly punished (spanking usually).

At 2.75 years, Daniel is making some progress with regard to the concept of sharing. But it takes a lot of facilitation, effort, consistency (on my part) and firmness. At first, he wouldn't share at all. Then, he'd only share the toys he didn't want to play with anyway. The challenge is to get him to share things that Benjamin actually wants to play with--and there has been progress. But like I said, it's been hard.

As for Benjamin, he's taken to hitting his brother on the head. I've watched him and have surmised that he does so in a playful spirit. He thinks it's funny, why I don't know?! But yes, I have also taken him to task for this. I do notice that Dan gets doubly grouchy when he gets punished for things and Benjamin doesn't. It's hard to explain to him all the time that Ben is only a baby and that he'll grow out of it. So sometimes, I do have to be stern and firm with Ben too, even if he is doing things just out of fun.

In any case, I suspect this playing together and sharing will be one long uphill struggle. I do hope though that one day, ONE DAY, the boys will be truly the best of friends and able to share and play together happily and smoothly, without Mummy having to hover around all the time.