Bentley and Sebastian

Such regal sounding names, huh. There common-man names are Ben and Seb, but they refuse to call each other by their preferred names (more on that in a minute). Sebastian is the little boy I started to sit for about six weeks ago, and it's been a bit of an adjustment for myself and Ben. Ben does fine with sharing me; he does not have the "she's my mommy, so back off" thing going on. In fact, he doesn't even mind that Seb calls me mom (he hears Bensaying it all day, so it sorta stuck with him, even though he finally knows my name now. Oh well. People must just assume that he's adopted). He does however, get possessive of his things. He's not all that bad though about it, except when it comes to his favorites. No, the big issue that Ben has with Seb is that he ignores him. Ben can call Seb's name out (actually he says 'Bastian') ten times without so much as a response. I have to say, "Seb, don't be rude" for him to finally turn to Ben and say "what?" This irritates Bentley, understandably so. And when he gets irritated with being ignored or when Seb refuses to "play basketball" with Ben, Bentley runs over to him and grabs him by the shirt to force a response out of the kid. Oh goodness! This is why it has been an adjustment for me, because I find myself yelling at Ben WAY more when Seb's here than when he's not. When I hear a confrontation going down in Ben's room, and even though I don't know the facts about who started what, I immediately blame Ben; I guess because he's my kid, and it's always more awkward to discipline other people's kids. Also Ben is louder, more demanding, and a tad bit more aggressive, so it probably WAS him. I have faith that it will get better, and both Ben and I will adjust to our new little house guest.

The two of them are pretty funny together. They bicker like two grumpy old men in their side-by-side stroller or in the back of their car in their respective car seats. And like I mentioned earlier, I think they purposely try to annoy each other by refusing to call each other what they want to be called. The following conversation went down a couple weeks ago in the back of the car:

Bentley: "Bastian, Bastian, Bastian, Bastian, Bastian, Bastian, Bastian . . ."

Me: "Seby, don't be rude."

Sebastian: turning his head towards Bentley (as he had had it turned the opposite direction as Ben was incessantly calling his name) "Seb." (trying to inform Ben that he wants to be called Seb.

Bentley: "What?" (Sebastian has a very quiet speaking voice)

Sebastian: "Seb."

Bentley: "Oh, Seb? (long pause) "No, Bastian."

A similar conversation occurred later that day as Bentley was telling Seb that his name is "Ben," and Seb brushed it off and said, "No, Bentley." These two are going to be a handful! But aren't they cute together?!