Birth Order Ramblings

this post is written like total shit. you’ve been warned.

Since the beginning of the “school year” I have been looking after my second cousins. I have talked about them before, as they were the family I lived with when I first graduated from college. The girls are almost-7 and 8. I pick them up from school and keep them until my cousin is home from work.

I was really excited to take this on because I wanted Elena to get used seeing other faces on a daily basis. Staying at home and not living super close to my family means she gets a whole lot of me. all day. every day. Now she gets to see her cousins regularly. She is already familiar with the school and smiles as soon as she sees the girls.

During this time, I have learned a few things:

1 – Although we have a box of fresh pencils, we did not have a single pencil sharpener.

2 – “Oh my God” is a bad word?

But to get to my point, I noticed something the other day when the little sister wasn’t with us. The older sister didn’t shut up the entire afternoon. I haven’t heard her talk that much since she was a itty bitty girl. She just let it all out. All of her wardrobe concerns, Spanish teacher drama and why it’s okay to like iCarly even if it isn’t educational. She just went on and on and on.

After I came home, I realized it was because her little sister wasn’t around being…well, a little sister. She wasn’t there to chime in with her “Well! Actually, my teacher said” or “Olivia L. told me that…”

Little sister is definitely the “squeaky wheel.” Aren’t they always?

I called my mother and asked her if it was like this with my sister when we growing up. She said “Well, yes. You were always louder and more dramatic.”

I feel sort of bad about this. Did I keep The Neat Geek from expressing herself because I was constantly talking? Constantly vomiting my emotions – be they happy or sad, silly or angry – all over the house?

Hello, Neat Geek?

Then as I sat around, staring at my first born (fingers crossed), I remembered that later on in the afternoon, after the big sister let it all out, she started talking about her little sister. “If she were here, she would…”

Which is just adorably sweet. After all that, she missed her. Or maybe she just got tired of having to do all the talking. Either way, the experience certainly opened my eyes to the whole idea of birth order.

Annnnd my eyes are closing. Sorry, you deserve better, really.

Thoughts?