3 year old's watchful eye

Friday we went to our Parent/Toddler class we go to every week and when we walked in, there was a new family there. The new little girl said hi and "I'm 3". My little girl said, "I'm 3 too!" They seemed to play nicely the rest of the morning and then at some point the little girl visited her mama's lap to nurse under a cover-up just after her little brother had. My daughter was all eyes and watched very closely as if she had never seen a child nurse before. (what??!!) She was actually hovering a bit, but that's what they do I guess. Once that was done, the play didn't seem to continue together between our two girls, but I didn't really think much of it.

Later that day, we were home and I was nursing little sis and big sis came over and said, "Mom, remember that little girl that had mama's milk under the blue scarf? She's not 3. It's too bad." She said it so very matter-of-fact that I just let it go and thought to myself about how she had come to that conclusion. I wanted to tell her that some little girls that are 3 have mama's milk, but I didn't want to take away whatever status that she has built in her mind of being 3 and letting her little sister have this special thing with mom instead. I know her, she wouldn't dare ever ask for it because she's a "big girl" in her mind now. Then she leaned in and started kissing her sister while she was drinking and said, "I love to kiss her when she's having numa. " (this is what my girls call "nurse".)

This whole little thing was very sweet and I like to see that she is so aware of others and is comparing situations she witnesses to what she knows as her own reality. I'm not worried about her playing with the other little girl because everything like this is so short lived.

I feel it's tender that she likes to be close to her sister and I during a nurse because it makes it something that I share with both my girls.