Making Friends

When I was pregnant with Cole, knowing Carter and he would be 26 months apart, we were on the receiving end of a lot of forecasts proclaiming the closeness in spacing to be a boon to sibling closeness, especially when the gender matches. They would be at the same stage, more or less, and able to be treated as a unit! Two for the effort of one (I knew they were full of it when they’d pull out that one—it’s like how your friends with 4 kids tell you a bunch a bologna about 4 being easier than 3 [LIARS, they are all liars!!])… it was a nice story!

Guess what? Newborns and 2 year-olds are, by nature, going to be into different things. Not all the time, though – sometimes they are into the exact same thing: mama. What I am saying is, the whole ease of two children two years apart (with a 3rd thrown in just to keep me on my toes) had eluded me for, oh, the past 5 years or so.

I’ve never doubted that the boys love each other. Friendship is different. Now, they’re both small children, so the altruistic qualities of friendship are tenuous at best. However, they clearly value each others’ company and seek out playtime with each other. It’s not only the youngest initiating play, either—far from it. Seems Cole is finally an acceptable playmate.

a weekday morning, after breakfast, before ‘time to get dressed’

Last month, when I took down the tree, Paul suggested I leave the corner empty and allow the boys to play there “for a while.” I have no clue what that means in Paul-time, but I figured it’d help keep the middle of the floor tidier at least. The boys LOVE having their knights and castles set up ready to play ALL THE TIME. I sucked at remembering to put away toys as a child, and I am no better at remembering to tell others to put away their toys. And I am just fine with it, honestly.

Being completely different people, the boys’ interests have not lined up with other activities. Cole wants to learn karate and play soccer. Carter is more interested in skateboard lessons and basketball. That’s okay. At least they’re friends.