Love/Hate

Just like all siblings, they have such a love/hate relationship. One minute they are pestering each other; then within seconds they are belly laughing together. They love to tickle each other, race, see who can scream louder, roar like lions, color together, jump on Daddy, slide, and many other things. They trade off who is the leader of the gang, and the other often readily follows. The girl admires her brother so much and wants to do just like he does. He thinks she is pretty funny. It's not all roses though - especially when one of them wakes up on the wrong side of the bed. While it's fun to scream or roar one minute, the next minute finds the girl scared or with hurt feelings. Either one can decide they no longer want to be touched or bothered which results in screaming and crying. None of this surprises me. I am a younger sister and this just comes with the territory.

Two things lately have caught me off guard in regard to these two:
1. We've gone to the park twice this week with friends, and both times they've spent more time playing with each other than the friends they were so excited to see. I'm glad they enjoy each other, but they can play together whenever they want. I often go to the park to give them a change of pace and people. It just makes me laugh. The boy even turned down his precious best girl friend to climb the slide with his sister today! I'm thankful they have bonded so well, and we hope this continues over the years. We would love to know they have each others' backs no matter what.

2. On a lighter note, I've been surprised at how early the boy has become the pesky older brother. I knew it would come - the taunting and teasing just to get a rise out of her. I just didn't know it would start at a mere 3 1/2. He gets such a kick out of chasing her, roaring like a lion while she runs away screaming. He touches her after she tells him to stop. And just yesterday when she asked for the Aquadoodle crayon, he grabbed it and promptly sat on it... cackling heartily. Clay and I have a hard time not laughing even as our daughter wails heartbroken or tortured. If he's this bad at 3 1/2, heaven help us as he gets older and more creative.

What kind of fun will we have once we add another to the mix? Guess we'll know better once we hopefully find out the gender next Wednesday!