Sometimes the children…
…make me want to fling myself in front of a bus. They’re arguing with each other outside and never has a small girl sounded so screechy and never (well, at least not since my sister grew up) has an older sibling sounded so mocking.
Things my children fight about:
- Who gets the Pokemon plate at breakfast;
- Who gets Mommy and who is stuck with boring old Daddy;
- Who has the most chocolate chips in his or her cookie;
- Who gets to let the dog out;
- Who gets to feed the dog;
- Who the dog loves best.
I still think the 7-year age span between them has cut a lot of this fighting out, which means my heart goes out to you with kids closer together. Then again, if I sent the big one to school he wouldn’t be around all the time to drive the little one crazy (or to be driven crazy by her).
In the interest of fair play, here are things that are very lovely about their relationship:
- When Madison gets hurt, sometimes the only thing that helps is a kiss from brother;
- And when she needs a kiss, brother is usually a flurry of concern;
- Noah is rabid about making sure she wears her helmet when riding her trike;
- Madison likes to wear clothes to match Noah and he’s usually game to indulge her in this;
- They have these call-and-respone routines worked out based on books they like, music they like, or jokes they learned from the babysitter.
And as of now, they’re no longer bickering out back. Thank god.
Reading your post makes me feel so much better about the age difference there will be between my two children (if I am lucky enough to have a second pregnancy that sticks). My little guy will be 5 in November and I’ve been very nervous that the age gap is getting too large for a second baby to have a meaningful relationship with him. Now I see how silly that fear is - thanks for showing me what I have to look forward to (good and bad)!
Sounds like me and Leo…..
I confess I have sometimes responded to my children’s complaints about each other with, “Yeah? Well you’re breathing my air.”
Reading about Noah and Madison together makes me smile. My brother is 6 1/2 years older than I am and we have a really good relationship. He used to tie his dirty sweat socks around my face for fun, but he doesn’t do that anymore so I’ve forgiven him.
He and his beautiful family are coming to stay with us over Easter and I’m so excited!
Oh yes… 2 years 3 months is too close for any relief on this. It’s very very very tough over here, thanks for sympathizing with us!
Oh, yes, and sometimes I think that two boys fight even more than a boy/girl or girl/girl combination, but of course that might be a wrong assumption. I had a brother, 2 1/2 years younger and we fought quite a bit.
My kids are both ASD and there is a 5 year gap.
Suddenly both of them have taken a great leap and they bicker. And fight. Over trivia.
And I am supposed to celebrate this as a great leap forward in their social development.
It’s hard some days, really hard. The ignoring of each other was so damned peaceful in comparison. I never got to practice my referee skills and now they are 9 and 13 and it is not pretty.
The first sentence had me guffawing and reminded me of why being child-free has its own set of joys. The rest of your post had me wistfully thinking of what could’ve been. It’s awesome that in the midst of the junk that goes on day in and day out in busy homes such as yours that you can still find the loveliness in it all. You’re a good mom!