Saturday siblings 10/06/2016 – Sibling rivalry v sibling bond

There is something about the way the boys are together that just warms every part of my heart and soul. I love the way they are together, it’s a part of parenthood that I never expected to enjoy.

Being an only child myself, I wasn’t really anticipating enjoying seeing my children together and how close they are. I think it’s novel for Adam too, since him and his older brother haven’t got that closeness. The boys sleep together, they cause mischief together and, despite threatening each other with physical violence every 2.4 seconds, they laugh together all the time. Constantly.

I always wanted to have a large family, and now I have one I feel genuinely blessed, even after hard days like today. It’s not just the boys either, it’s the way that Reuben and Edith interact too. I can see such a marked difference in her attitude and the way she behaves when they the boys are out of the house. It’s like sea waiting for them to come home before she can really start to have fun again. Reuben spends hours chasing her up and down the kitchen and living room whilst Toby cuddles up on the sofa and reads a book with my mum or me. Her screams of delight are almost always for him, and never are they louder.

On the flip side they get each other into trouble like nothing I have ever known. I swear I could be content to abolish the words “…….. Did this!” Or ban them from telling tales all together! They are dreadful for it, and yet, when one has really over stepped the mark and is serious trouble (we’re talking thinking corner or loss of toys) and the tears are rolling, the other is always there to play confidant or be the good cop to our bad. Even when Toby bit Reuben, Roo was still distressed to see his little brother in so much trouble and so upset.

What sparked this post was the picture above. The boys have been really enjoying playing in their room together of late, but when they eventually decided they were too tired, and it was time for a chill out, they headed downstairs for some cookies, milk and iPad time. Reuben’s words not mine! When they got down their, only one iPad was working, the other one had “gone to sleep” – the battery had died, and I hadn’t noticed to charge it. One iPad means arguments and tears, and generally the banning of the other iPad in a bid to solve aforementioned behaviour. Except this time it didn’t. Toby started to cry, as he is want to do when things aren’t going his way, and Roo stopped to shuffle closer to him. As I watched Reuben announced “you can share with me Toby, here let’s rest and you can put your head on my shoulder. Is that ok?” My heart melted. This bond is beautiful and it’s something I am a teeny tiny bit jealous of.

I was never lucky enough to have living siblings, and for that I was always a bit sad. Adam on the other hand still reminds me how lucky he thinks I am to be an only child haha! I think if he had the bond that these two have though he might change his mind, despite a good dose of sibling rivalry. I genuinely hope that life doesn’t come between these two, their bond seems to grow daily but you never know what is around the corner. I like to think forward to their big life events, such as wedding days, graduations and first children (should that be their chosen path I life) and I imagine their bond then. Would they have each other as best men? What about as godparents or a wing man/woman on a post graduating night out?

I hope their special bond still sparkles and blesses them the way it does now.

Harriet x