Sister Love

There are times when I really love being a mother and some of those times occur when I see my children playing together and getting along. I wish I could say that my kids are perfect angels who love each other so much, always share their toys, and never fight. But that would be a lie because the truth is, although there are fleeting moments of sisterly love that pass between them, most of the time I am breaking up fights. Actually, most of the time I am defending Serena from her big sister. Sometimes Calli loves her just a bit too much and smothers her in affection with hugs and kisses. Most of the time though she knows just how to get on her little sister's nerves and bug her by touching her or stealing her toys. I think it is hard for all little kids to learn to share, but first borns have it especially rough. Calli was the only child for two and a half years and then Serena came along and all of a sudden "her" toys became "their" toys. When Serena was an infant all Calli could talk about was how she couldn't wait for her sister to get bigger and play with her. Now that that day has finally arrived I think Calli is having second thoughts ;). Not to say that Serena is a perfect angel by any means! But being the younger one, she is picked on more and it's harder for her to defend herself given she doesn't have the vocabulary to tell her sister to BUZZ OFF.

But once in awhile, usually first thing in the morning when Calli is so excited for Serena to wake up and Serena is in a good mood, they get along and play together. It starts by Calli being the first one upstairs when she hears Serena up in her crib. I give them a few minutes to play together; Calli gives Serena toys and sometimes climbs in the crib with her. I often hear lots of laughing coming from the room. When we come downstairs Serena doesn't like to eat breakfast first thing, so they dive right into the massive amount of toys spilling out of the toybox. Calli brings Serena a book or shares a toy with her. She helps Serena up on the couch when she can't quite make it herself. And this morning the two of them were especially cute to watch together. Serena loves to play with the wipes, much to my chagrin! So I let her have ONE this morning and of course Calli wanted one too to do her "cleaning". She took hers and started wiping down the TV and surrounding area. Serena decided to copy her big sister and started cleaning with her!

After they had finished their chore Calli went and laid down on the couch. Serena decided she wanted to be up there too and she climbed right up and gave her sister big hugs. I expected it to only last a second, but Serena just laid there on top of Calli hugging her and Calli loved it. They were giggling together and giving each other kisses and being so sweet! Finally Serena decided she had enough and pulled away and Calli started yelling about how Serena had slobbered on her. This cracked Serena up so she started laughing like crazy with Calli telling her "it's not funny!" which only made her laugh harder. These are the moments that make everything worth it.

I am excited to add a third sibling to the dynamic. Although he'll be a baby for most of the time Calli is still home (before she starts kindergarten), they will all have the chance to interact together for a little while at least. I know having three kids in four years will be challenging, but I hope it will also allow my kids a strong bond with one another. Here's to many more sweet moments to come!