Get ready to rumble

The tide is turning. The hierarchy is about to be dismantled. Big Brother is going to be beaten up by Little Brother.

It's been coming, this dawning of a new day, for a while. LB started with hair pulling as his only form of retribution, but he did it with zest and relish - big handfuls of blond hair strewn on the carpet. BB was very tolerant, and would say 'Gentle, gentle' as I had taught him. At that stage the pendulum was far in BB's favour and he could always make the pecking order clear with a good swipe, a push as he ran past, a swift wrench of whatever LB was playing with.

But now LB is mobile, stronger, clever. He has sat on the edges, watching and waiting. This morning he found a sheet of thickish plastic and hit BB over the head with it, purely to start some interaction. It was boy-talk for 'Wanna play bro?'.
As BB was happily and quietly playing on the couch, I took the plastic away from LB. He grabbed BB's hair, and hung on. I removed his hands from BB's hair (luckily, before he had lost too many follicles. Apart from my Dad, our gene pool for hair loss does not need any assistance in asserting it's dominance).
So LB jumped on BB's back and bit him.

Don't get me wrong, he is a loving and sweet child. So where does the mini-Rambo come from?

I know that the tide is turning, but I didn't think it would start this early - LB is not even a year old. You'd think the fact he is still being breastfed would impart some hippy/loving/peace and goodwill vibes into the little mite. Although the breastfeeding is being coming more and more like a few rounds in a WWF ring.

Ahh, well. I guess that's what brothers are for - give what you get and get what you give. The competition that starts with who can pull hair the hardest, will grow into who can punch the hardest when Mum's not looking, who can ski the fastest when Mum's not looking, and who can drink the most when Mum's not looking. Now that they are physically on a more even playing field I guess I better start practising not looking.

HOORAY for Parenting Inc Weekly Hot Tips. You can sign up for these emails, which are great bits of practical advice. Sure, they talk about older children and teenagers too, but I feel like I'm getting a head start on 'em. Reading them reminds me I'm one of many parents on a big cruise liner sailing across the ocean, rather than stuck in a dinghy alone trying to row, navigate, entertain and keep the kids from falling over the side.