I’m not around kids very often, so it’s always a hoot when my sister’s grandkids come to stay.  They bring their parents, too, but the kids are the most amusing. 

There are three grandchildren – all boys, from two different families.  The oldest boy is about five, and his cousins are three and one.

Of course, there is a certain amount of preparation required.  For those children who are old enough to get into things but not old enough to know better, the kitchen cupboards must be secured.  I found these great gadgets to give to my sister.  Each one is a plastic clamp that can be adjusted to fit on the lower double-door kitchen cabinets to prevent them from being opened.  For the single door cabinets, we all just have to be vigilant.  But, it’s much easier when the number of trouble spots is narrowed down.

And, the chair across the staircase upstairs does a passable job of keeping the littlest ones from taking a solitary stroll up (and/or down) the stairs.

The boys get along fairly well together.  The funniest thing is that the oldest boy just loves to help out his two cousins.  He tries to keep them out of trouble, when he’s not joining in, that is.  And, he takes great pride in teaching them new things, reading them stories, and generally playing the big brother role.

I hadn’t really thought of how a six year old views a three year old.  But, I think they really consider each other as peers, just as if they were 25 and 22.  That became obvious to me a while ago when the two were playing together.  It was at a time when the younger of the two was just getting some traction learning how to talk, but wasn’t very good at it yet.

The younger boy wanted something, and the older boy was trying to figure out what it was.  There was a lot of back and forth “discussion” on the topic.  Finally, the older boy was out of patience.

Getting to his feet, and pumping his arms in the air to emphasize each phrase, he exclaimed,

“I CAN’T UNDERSTAND A WORD YOU’RE SAYING!!!!!”