Frenemies

William and Tessa have a challenging relationship. They can be so, so cute together. We really try and encourage William in his role as Tessa's big brother and it sometimes pays off when he notices that she's doing something new and feels like he can take credit for it because of his example ("Hey, look at Tessa putting on her own shoes. I showed her how to do it"). They are pretty good at sharing; I think Tessa, for her age, shares really well and I'm sure it's because she's never known a life where she didn't have to share with the boys. And she loves to talk to him, especially on days when he has preschool. One of her favorite things to do is go through his backpack when he gets home. He's even taken to drawing pictures specifically for her. Sure, they are generally scenes of dinosaur carnage ("Well, Tessa, that's a Carnataurus eating a Torosaurus") but she seems thrilled when he produces a drawing and presents it to her. They all go on the refrigerator so that she can look at them whenever she gets the urge.

Of course, their relationship is volatile. They share the blame, I think. Tessa, honestly, knows how to push his buttons and does so with apparent glee. And William is very sensitive to having his big-boyhood questioned, which apparently Tessa can do with a well-placed look or some gibberish ("Mama, Tessa called me a ga-ga"). I'm sure William will be in therapy as an adult and it will all come down to him being a middle child. He's not out there in the world doing fun things like Henry but he's not the little princess either. Since there isn't a thing in the world we can do about his placement in the family, we try and focus on the positive. And frankly some days are better than others.

The other day, however, was a good day and worth noting in the relationship annals of William and Tessa. It was another winter day in Cache Valley - bitter cold, murky air - so I put in a movie for them to watch after lunch. I popped some popcorn and left them sitting companionably on the couch, watching "Madagascar 2". Since they seemed happy enough, I ran upstairs to get a few things done. You know - put laundry away, clean the bathrooms, check Facebook. The movie didn't hold their attention (I don't know why, they've only watched it 100 times since we bought the DVD a few weeks ago), but they found a project to keep themselves busy:

Apparently they were trying to fix something that required all the plastic and wooden tools that we have available in the house. Tessa needed to put on William's shoes (workboots, perhaps?) and spent quite a bit of time going back and forth from the toy bins to the couch, delivering tools to William. This was dangerous work, of course, so they needed goggles to protect their eyes. I'm not sure if they were able to accomplish their task, but they were getting along and that is all I cared about.