Going solo

Small boy and large boy have a really strong bond. To the point that small boy can be quite shy and even anxious when his brother isn’t there.

I love how close they are, there’s a 3.5 year gap but they play together, imagine together and sometimes just sit quietly hugging.

Their closeness does have the occasional downside though. Small boy suffers a bit of separation anxiety – not from me but from his brother. All last year when I dropped them at school/preschool on a Friday small boy cried when his brother went to school.

This year, three Fridays in, we’ve had one without a meltdown. So long as small boy gets one last hug from his brother before he goes in, it’s ok. If not, tears. Once he’s in school he’s fine, it’s the just the moment of going in. It doesn’t ruin his day or disturb the other children, it’s just a few stressful minutes that are hard to watch.

Today large boy has a temperature of 38. He’s full of cold and has been stuck on the sofa all morning. So he’s not going swimming.

Small boy joined the same swimming class in July, missed several lessons during the summer holiday and they’ve had 2 weeks back. Today he had to go swimming without large boy for the first time. We had moaning and whining for his brother as we walked across the car park, but I played around a bit while he got changed to distract him and then he went in with the other children (luckily including two brothers from school too).

He did a great job! Swam the whole width with just one arm band disk thing! After only about 8 lessons. And without the reassurance of his big brother being nearby.

By no means is the bond weakened or has the worry of doing something alone evaporated for small boy. But he’s shown himself that he can go solo. He doesn’t always need his brother there.

They’ll always be “best brothers” though.