With Siblings comes Patience

I often think how much more patient my children are than I was their age. I definitely think a lot of this is due to them having siblings so close.

C doesn't remember the time before she had to share. She has a very mothering personality which I think plays a lot into her patience as well. Even at only a year when J came home she was always looking out for him and ready to share. She was the first at his crib if he cried, yelling at us to come over, and loved to bring us diapers and wipes.

J and E have fallen into the second and third child positions having to share as well. We do have a few special toys the kids don't have to share but even those they end up wanting to share as well. It makes me proud and I hope they keep this up as they get older.

Today I was reminded of the kids patience with each other as C and J were building castles with their wooden blocks. E crawled up and borrowed a few blocks to taste lol. C said "Mommy can Eva eat the blocks?" out of her concern, but I said it wasn't too small and she'd realize they didn't taste good so C was content for E to do her thing as long as it was safe (see the mothering persona again). J on the other hand was getting a little more frustrated. E stopped tasting and seemed to just enjoy seeing which blocks she could take from brother to get a reaction.

I watched carefully but wanted to see how J handled his frustration, and I was surprised. In the midst of a frustrated look examining his little sis grinning up at him in delight J let out a sigh, relaxed his shoulders and said "This is what you do with blocks" and began showing her how to stack them. Though she didn't quite get it they both seemed to love the interaction and I loved that instead of letting his frustration get the best of him my little man decided to change his play to teaching E instead.

At 2 or 3 I would not have done this lol. I would have been more likely to yell to my mom that the smaller child was ruining my castle or just taken the blocks from them. Despite how much I loved little kids when I was older and babysat from 12 till I had my own kids I did not have the experience of close siblings or this lesson in patience. I'm glad my own children have this as well as the friendships, snuggles, and daily fun and challenges of growing up together. I love watching them interact and grow with one another. They've all learned from each other and even in the roughest arguments (which thankfully are few and far between) the best punishment threat for C and J is they'll have to stay in different rooms or won't be able to play with each other if they don't get along. It's definitely one more reflection on how much they love each other and want to be around one another even when they may not be on the best of terms in that moment.

I can't wait to see what the future years have to come and hope they always keep this patience and love for one another as they continue to grow up with and learn from each other.