Joshua learns to share... or not

Joshua got to play with his little friend Cassidy today while her mommy was getting some things done. We went by Cassidy's house this morning to visit during our walk and Joshua played nicely and sweetly with Cassidy and her toys, even feeding her veggie puffs. What a sweet big brother he will be, I thought.

Candice dropped Cassidy off a few hours later and the fun ensued. Whichever one of Joshua's toys Cassidy wanted to play with suddenly became the one that Joshua had to have. When they were happy with their different toys and Cassidy started to crawl towards Joshua (anywhere remotely near him, in fact) he started to scream as though the world was about to end. He was thoroughly opposed to the idea of sharing his big toy play kitchen or his piano table thingy. He kept pushing Cassidy's hands off whatever she was trying to play with (Cassidy was minding her own business, she just wanted to play near him).

I could just see Joshua getting so frustrated with this little girl trying to share his toys... HIS toys!!! He wanted Mommy to make her go away and he kept trying to just take a toy and go somewhere to play alone... and she kept following him. I could see the utter confusion and frustration on his face and just wished for him that learning to share wasn't going to be such a hard lesson.

Well, 2 time-outs (for Joshua) later, it was naptime for all. They both woke up happy and Joshua was happy to see his little friend again. That didn't last long. We had a little more of the same and I got Joshua to play in a different room for a while. They took turns eating (and, consequently, having all the toys to themself) and Joshua seemed to be getting the hang of the whole sharing thing... a little. He even started to bring Cassidy a few toys. They sat next to each other in the car on the way to Olive Garden and there was no crying or whining to be heard when I peeked in the back and saw Cassidy yanking on Joshua's shoe.

I'm sure he'll be a wonderful big brother -maybe not the little angel I am picturing, but a wonderful big brother nonetheless. This sharing thing just moved way up on my prayer list!!