The truth is though that Aubrey is starting to pass Hailey up. And that is sad to watch.
Hailey will be 11 in less than a week...and in less than 2 months Aubrey will be 5.
Aubrey has started to play with her barbies in a different way. The barbies talk to each other and they are set up a certain way. When Aubrey plays baby dolls, she dresses them up and changes their clothes and pretends with them.
Hailey is still at the point in her playing that she just repeats the same thing over and over again with the barbies. When Hailey plays barbies, the barbies walk up and down the stairs over and over and over and over again. She may play with them but she doesn't understand how to make them sit down correctly and she doesn't understand the games that Aubrey is playing. Hailey has trouble dressing herself, so imagine when she wants to copy her sister but she can't figure out how to change the dolls clothes.
It is all very frustrating to them both.
Aubrey is also starting to get frustrated with Hailey. Hailey tends to be a bull in a china shop at times. She bulldozes her way into Aubrey's room with no regard to the game that Aubrey just took so long to set up. Aubrey is getting to the age where she wants her "privacy" in the bathroom. She doesn't want her eleven year old sister following her everywhere...especially not when she has to go potty. She doesn't want to match her clothes anymore.
I understand Aubrey's frustration. She is going to be 5. She is trying to figure out who she is and have some individuality.
The more Aubrey tries to get some privacy, the more Hailey wants to be with her. It's like when you were little and sitting in the back seat with your little brother or sister and they kept touching you...and your mom told them not to touch you...so they put their finger as close to you as they could and then said, I'm not touching you, I'm not touching you. Yep, it's like that at our house a lot lately...Only it's the reverse. It is the big sister driving the little sister crazy.
They are reversing roles and I don't like it...but there's not a thing that I can do about it.
I can't force Aubrey to play with her. I don't want to put Aubrey in the position that she is playing with her because she feels sorry for her or anything.
I think that I just have to come to terms with the fact that it is time. It is happening. Hailey hasn't gotten past that 5 year old developmental level yet and Aubrey is passing her up at lightening speed.
These are the things that make me cry at night.
This post breaks my heart. My 5p- girl is my baby, so I don't have to face her being 'passed by' with regards to younger siblings but just this weekend, I saw Olivia have a moment where she seems to get that she couldn't keep up with the other kids. She stood off to the side and watched Alyssa and all the birthday party guests run around and I could see the sadness, the frustration in her eyes that she couldn't keep up. It broke my heart.
ReplyDeleteLike Tommie, my 5p- girl is the youngest. There are interesting interactions with the brothers closest in age. One thing I don't see, tho, is them ever feeling sorry for her! She has always held her own with those rough 'n tumble boys.
ReplyDeleteI think Hailey is doing awesome with Barbies! Walking them up & down the stairs is functional play - that's been one of our OT goals for a LONG time, "Increase functional play skills", and we are still mostly stuck in banging them together and pulling their hair out. Sigh....
Tommie ~ Hailey definitely has felt that way during social outings before...when Hailey was in Kindergarten, we had her in a regular class with an aide. Although the kids were always very sweet to her, she just couldn't keep up. I think that was the hardest year.
ReplyDeleteKate ~ I don't think that Aubrey feels sorry for her. I just don't want to force her to play with Hailey because I am afraid that the resentment will build up and then she would feel sorry for her. As for the hair pulling, Hailey does plenty of that with those barbies too and with her babies...those poor innocent barbies! Most of them are bald :-)!!