Being the Second Child of the Family

Having a loving brother is never a bad thing. Whenever I look at these two play together and roll around the bed in unison, I think back at the times when Renzo was the only child and how lonely and solitary his life must have been before Rynus came along. Sure, Renzo had Mummy Chan and myself around him, but who better to understand oneself than a sibling who is just a few years apart.

I sit here by the edge of their bed and Rynus crawls over to the curtains and attempts to conceal himself behind it. As an adult, I am amused at the 1-year-old's attempt, and finds it funny because he didn't realise he had only covered his torso, while leaving his stubby little baby legs in plain view (good attempt still...haha). But the very same action triggered very different response from Renzo. He saw it as something wonderful, and immediately mimicked it with the other piece of the curtain, and instantly, we had two giggly kids covering and revealing themselves, flailing the curtain around as if the curtains were the wings of an intoxicated pigeon. I can only imagine how proud Rynus must have been to know his actions led on Renzo to do the same and it must have bolstered Rynus' self-confidence by a bit too.

Being the second child of the family, I know Rynus is disadvantaged from birth. Renzo had dedicated attention and funds when he was the only child for the first 3 years of his life, whereas Rynus will never know how it is like to have that sort of love and fundings (3 boxes full of Renzo's Thomas & Friends trains...). As most parents will say "We love them equally"... yeah.. and we know the equal half of the whole loving heart is 50%. It maybe that because I'm also the second child in the family myself, subconsciously I tend to be more biased toward Rynus, being more tolerant and understanding (at least that is what i gathered from my conversations with Mummy Chan, my sis-in-law and my mum... =/ )

Well, in any case, Rynus IS a cuter, more adorable baby even when compared to Renzo when he was at this age... then again, it might be my subconscious mind drawing at that conclusion... haha... guess we'll have to wait till Rynus turns into the little terrible-two monster to see if it'll change my perception of things...