Saturday night D and I came upstairs to find two little ones and a dog in our bed, snuggled up together. Child 1 was reading a book to Child 2. Child 2 was laughing at Child 1's interpretation of Big Nate's latest adventures. Then C1 folded the corner of the page (bad habit from mom - house is full of book marks) and told C2 "that's all for tonight. I'll read more tomorrow". Someday I will tell C2 in depth about how important C1 was to her development.
When O was born, wondered about how their relationship would play out. Her birth and his diagnosis happened within a few months of each other. The first year or so of her life, he barely noticed her. She really didn't register all that much in his world, and I was actually relieved at the time. Then when he did, she was merely an annoyance. As she started to make her presence known more, there were constant reminders for him to be "nice" to his sister. Don't take toys away. Don't say mean things to her.
At some point in the last six months, Little Miss O started to assert herself, make her own demands. I waited for fireworks, that never came. Instead, they started to PLAY together. I even remember the day - it was May 6th, and we had just watched Toy Story for the first time. I had picked up a few of the action figures and presented them to the little monsters, and within a few minutes they were in the playroom, re-creating their favorite scenes from the movie. It has been chaotic at times, and there is bickering of course, but they are still playing together. And she is now taking these "skills" and playing with her friends. When they are together, they are as typical as two kids can get. And I am one happy momma.
I think all I did for my little brother was thump him in the head on occasion and tell him to go away a lot. Somehow, he survived. Isaac is a much better sibling than I ever was.
No comments:
Post a Comment