never too young to start

To me, there is little more precious than the interaction between siblings. I whole heartedly love mine and adore the time that we can spend together. I am thrilled that my children are being raised in a large family with plenty of siblings to go around. It means that you always have a friend nearby, you always have someone you can count on, to learn from and lean on, to share your secrets, to fight with.... to grow.

I was worried how SweetPea would take PorkChop's arrival and was pleasantly surprised when after a few days, she totally came around. She never had any jealousy towards the new baby, more of an apprehension towards her parents. Now, five months later, PorkChop is one of her many self-proclaimed "best friends".

It was music to my ears this morning during our story time to watch SweetPea pointing out things in the book that PorkChop was amusing himself with, telling him the names of the pictures, explaining to him what the items did, imitating animal noises. It was equally endearing to watch PorkChop look up at her with his big, round eyes full of wonder. You could see that she was taking the role of teacher very seriously and her student was watching with all the hero worship that a baby brings to his older siblings.

I only managed to read two stories today, in fact, before SweetPea asked for her own "turn" to read to PorkChop. I allowed him to "sit" in her lap while she put her arms around him to keep him safe, barely managing to hold "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" in front of them both. She then told him to pay attention as she recited the book to her baby brother.

So precious!

I don't expect every day to be like this. Watching the three older ones tattle and fight and squeal and cry is enough to break the fantasy of a totally loving household of children. But its the moments like this, when I can sit back and just peek at my two youngest engaged in an activity together than my heart swells with pride at my family.