Two boys

We had a second son for the evening, and we really enjoyed it. A friend of ours needed a fill-in sitter, and we were happy to help out.

I fastened the little boy into Biscuit's car seat for the trip to our house. He's a year younger than Biscuit, but he's about the same height, so Biscuit's car seat fit him just right. He said, "I like his car seat. It's in the middle. My seat goes over there." And he pointed to the back seat on the passenger side of the car. He also told me that the fastener button on his car seat is a square, and Biscuit's is a crescent. But crescents are not his favorite shape. He likes circles and stars.

Then we talked about favorite colors. I told him that mine and Biscuit's favorite color is red, and Jeff's is green. Then he told me that his Mom's favorite color is red, and his dad's is green. Hmmm. I wonder if that's true or if someone was just following a pattern?

We talked about the cars we saw on the road. We talked about how many trees we saw. Then we talked about traffic jams. And every time we stopped at a red light, he started to read the letters on the street signs. We never actually sat at a red light long enough for him to read a whole sign.

We got home a few seconds before Jeff pulled into the driveway with Biscuit, and once Biscuit was out of the car, it was like the starting pistol fired at a race. They were off!

I didn't have to play baseball or trains or cowboys or firefighters or trucks and cars or anything. Those boys kept each other occupied the entire night.

The only problem we had was with Biscuit. He could not understand that even though the other boy is his size, he's actually a whole year younger. So Biscuit was expecting the boy to know everything he knows. About this time last year, Biscuit was still getting the hang of hide-and-seek. Now (unless the TV is on, and he forgets to come find me!), he knows to go hide (without telling you where he's going to hide), and he knows to be quiet (instead of giving hints out loud as to where he is hiding), and he knows to stay in his hiding place until someone finds him.

Our guest is not yet a hide-and-seek expert. Every time Biscuit walked past his hiding space, he would jump up and say, "I'M RIGHT HERE!"

And Biscuit got mad. And he yelled at his friend.

I pulled Biscuit off to the side and did some of that whisper-yelling to explain to him that his friend is a whole year younger, and that he needed to be more patient. After that, every time his friend would say something like, "I'm over here, under the table," Biscuit would look at me and smile, like he was in on a secret joke.

The boys played really well together, and we'd be happy to let them play together again.