As an elder sibling one thing that really gave me the sh*ts when I was growing up was how my little brother would carry on as if he was being shot if I so much as looked at him sideways. He’d be sitting there in the lounge room begging me for mercy or to stop hitting him or whatever it was her thought would get me sent to my room so he could have the TV all to himself -it mattered not a jot that I was on the other side of the room minding my own business (most of the time).

To him it was just a way of getting square with his bigger, stronger, and let’s face it far handsomer elder brother, given he knew he was out matched in almost every other way he resorted to a sort of guerrilla campaign against me. For me it just meant getting yelled out and being punished for doing nothing more than existing.

Watching the current interaction between Usurper and Little Miss I am beginning to wonder whether my little brother was actually an evil shite or it is just the way younger siblings even up the playing field. I have noticed even at a delicate age that the baby will start crying and hollering as if under attack even if the toddler is miles away minding her own business (do not take this indicate even in the slightest that the toddler is innocent even 1 time in 20 - generally she is a guilty as sin). But my point is that Usurper has already worked out that if she cries then the toddler will get blamed - and she plays up to it!

As I have said though it is not that Little Miss is innocent - she seems to be a bit annoyed that Usurper is actually able to move around / sit up under her own steam these days and is hell bent on tipping her over at every opportunity. Her other favorite game is to work out where the baby is headed and then standing in her way, blocking her movements. Every time the baby changes course to accommodate where the toddler is now standing, the toddler moves to block it’s new course.

This leads to a mexican stand off with the baby’s head banging against the toddlers shins, the baby hollering and crying in frustration and the toddler complaining that Usurper is attacking her.

As for me I try not to get involved in these disputes, until it turns physical and one of them is in mortal danger. Then I tend to pick the baby up and turn it around and try and distract the toddler with a shiny object or a stupid dance.

All I keep thinking though is if they are like this now, just how bad will it be in 13 years time?