If you have more than one child, it can be very interesting to see just how much you toddler learns from his or her older brother or sister. Younger siblings often reach developmental milestones sooner than their peers who have no older siblings in their homes. The reason for this can probably be boiled down into a simple concept – monkey see, monkey do.
Of course, we, as parents, think that much of our little ones’ learning comes from watching us do our thing. This is true, but when there is an older sibling in the home, a toddler sees someone who is not an adult, someone who may actually be pretty close to their own size, doing their thing. Sure, adults are fun to imitate, but for some reason, there is an added appeal when someone close to your own size is doing things – it makes those things seem all that more doable.
It is a lot of fun helping my older son, Dylan, learn to do all of the things that he can do. I am also immensely enjoying watching as Blake learns to do those same things, sometimes perhaps even sooner than Dylan did them, because he sees Dylan doing them. For the record, I do not keep close tabs on who did what when, because each of the boys has his own unique developmental timeline that I respect, and I am going to great lengths not to compare them to each other. I do occasionally check in with books or charts with lists of milestones to ensure that both of them are developing accordingly, because I would want to take prompt action if either of them needed any kind of assistance.
Today, I went out of town to do errands with the boys. I got to see them interacting with each other in all kinds of places, but I think that all of us had the most fun at the playground. While we were there, I was able to see that Blake definitely has his own agenda some of the time, while at other times he is very interested in seeing (and doing) whatever Dylan is doing. Today, I watched in disbelief as Blake decided to follow Dylan up a play structure, across it to the other side of it, and finally down a slide that must have been at least eight feet tall. Of course I was not really watching this from the sidelines, I was right alongside him so that he would be safe, and I caught him at the bottom of the slide. As scary as it was for me to see that he wanted to climb up that high, I wanted him to be able to explore as long as he could be safe while he was doing so. At the end of that adventure, I made a note to myself that both of my boys are quite fearless, and Blake often follows Dylan on whatever physical feats of daring he attempts. My Monkey See and Monkey Do will probably have me living on the edge of my seat for a while, as I keep a watchful eye on their explorations of the physical world.