Level Three. Timing.

Level Three – Timing.

By Michelle Lloyd.

It was all about timing.  This was a saying that regularly was said by both R V’s mum and dad.  Why was this said and about who?  Well, there was a lot to do and all at the right time and it was mostly for the recent newest arrival at the household.

Having a younger brother was certainly something to get used to and for R V he was getting up earlier than he thought he ever would, doing more learning about having a small child in the house than sometimes he thought he should and becoming more worried than he ever knew he could be.  It was a full on routine.  R V’s brother was up early and he seemed to be aware of everything that he needed and at the times that they had to be given to him and done for him.  Loudly he would cry to get his breakfast, louder he would cry when he needed a doo doo removal, loudest he would cry when he was tired and needed a nap.  Everything needed to be done as and when he insisted on it and R V was getting used to this routine.

R V and parents had been sitting down to dinner when a certain crying started and up went dad to do the doo doo removal.  They had settled down to do reading time when the crying went off again and this time everyone knew it was a cuddle that Dillon wanted.  Dillon’s demands went off with regular routine and it was precise.  Each noise he made meant something and R V had learnt the language of his brother’s cries.

At least it was helpful to know the code of cries, but it has to be said they could be inconvenient.  If someone did not get to Dillon at the right time then he would go into overdrive crying mode.  No one wanted that.  It was the worst phase of the code of cries because it meant that the timing of someone had been off, Dillon’s reaction to it would be off the scale and it would take ages to settle him back to quiet, cherished brother again.

Timing was the answer to a lot of the code of cries and R V had learnt, along with his parents, to know what was needed and when.  Sometimes R V thought it was odd that the littlest, youngest member of the household seemed to be dictating how everyone did things but to be honest he loved snuggle times with him so much that he didn’t let it trouble him for too long.

It was a Dillon demand household and R V had found it all too routine to answer his friends pleas for his time with an explanation that he had to be around for his younger brother’s first look at this, first time of that and he didn’t really notice how sad their acceptance of his rejection to them was each time.

It had been a while into Dillon’s adaption to the household when R V’s mum came into talk to him.  She told R V that maybe it was time for him to go out and be with his friends again, to have a few visits with them instead of watching out for Dillon all the time.  R V felt funny about the idea.  On the one hand he did miss New One and Little Herbert a LOT.  He had been so distracted by Dillon that he had not had time to think about it but when his mum mentioned them he had to say that he did want to go and see his two friends.  It was just so hard because then when he thought about Dillon he felt anxious to leave him.  What if something happened to him while he was out?  R V knew that his mum and dad could look after him but he was exceptionally small and he was sure they could never watch over him like a big brother could.  When a stray fly had gotten into Dillon’s bedroom R V had been the one to alert their parents to it and when he had looked as if he had needed a burping again he was the one to tell his mum and dad about that before the code of cries was even needed.  His timing, it had to be said, where Dillon was concerned was absolutely impeccable.  Besides that R V felt that if he left Dillon he would miss out.  Already there was so many lessons about how to look after him that he had learnt and what if he went out to do something else and he missed a brotherly moment.  When R V’s mum heard his concerns she told him that she did understand but that timing was a consideration for all the people that loved him.  As of late New One and Little Herbert probably felt that R V’s timing was not as impeccable for them as it was for Dillon.

Reluctantly R V abandoned, temporarily, his big brother role and off he went to be with his two friends.  He had thought it would be terrible to be away from his brother.  He had thought it would be horrible but actually he had more fun than he thought he would and seeing how happy Little Herbert and New One were to see him made him realise that timing was a concept that applied to a lot of things in life.  When R V got home and could show Dillon to his two friends he found that his love for his brother increased and he really did need to have a sense of timing for all the significant people to him.