Full Circle

When Bryce was born, Aubree loved him immediately. Her transition from only child to big sister was nearly seamless; she demonstrated very little jealousy, no regressions in behavior, and generally treated "her baby" gently and kindly. Mark and I were very aware of our good fortune and considered ourselves blessed
Shortly after Bryce turned one and became truly mobile, however, Aubree's affection for her brother took a drastic turn for the worse. Suddenly I found her scowling at him and intentionally knocking him over whenever she walked near him. She would scream, "get away!" when he walked into a room where she was playing. One evening while making dinner, I heard Bryce squawking at regular intervals in the living room. I peeked around the corner and saw Aubree holding Bryce's plush chair on top of him (which was causing the squawking). Once he made noise, she'd pick the chair up, wait for him to try to stand, and repeat the torture. I immediately picked Aubree up and placed her in time-out. Trembling with anger she demanded, "why were you watching me?!?"
One night during this difficult time period, as Aubree and I prepared to say her bedtime prayers, I suggested that perhaps she could ask Heavenly Father to help her be kind to her brother. Her face crumbled. "I don't want to be kind to my brother," she explained, "I don't want him to live in our home any more!" Such a sad time.
Gradually, things started to improve. A couple weeks ago I realized we'd truly come full circle when I told Aubree she got to come with me to a highly anticipated baby shower and her first question was, "can Bryce come too?" When I answered, "no, this is just for us girls!" instead of being excited, she wailed, "but I want my brother! I'll miss him soooo much."
This morning I needed to take a shower and went to get Bryce to put him in his bouncer seat (which I keep in the bathroom so I can keep an eye on him). He and Aubree were playing and when she discovered my intentions she pleaded, "but we're playing! Please, please let him stay. I promise I'll watch him."
They still have their occasional squabbles (usually over some equally desired toy), but for the most part, they've become best friends. Aubree loves having someone to participate in her increasingly complex make-believe games. I'm afraid Bryce might soon suffer from an identity crises as she never calls him by name. It's always, "Little John," or "King Triton," or "Henry Fussy," or "Jack" (from the Magic Tree House books).
On the rare occasions when Aubree is not around, Bryce doesn't know what to do with himself. He always gets up before Aubree, and it's a constant battle to keep him from barging into her room and stroking her hair until she wakes up to play. He adores his big sister. Thankfully, Bryce has gotten much better at not pulling Aubree's hair or biting her (other kids are still a different issue entirely...).

And just as an example of how much fun they have together, here's a short clip from yesterday (I have no reasonable explanation for their behavior):