Sibiling Love

I took special notice today over the amazing relationship and affection that my kids have for eachother. Because we are so affectionate w/ our kids it doesn't surprise me to see them be affectionate w/ eachother. Aleigh often runs into her big brothers arms after be disciplined by Joe or myself. AJ sometimes doesn't want to take the blame for the things he does...imagine that. Aleigh often will take the blame for him because she knows that if he gets sent to the corner her playtime with her brother has to be on hold or she just simply doesn't want to see her big brother get in trouble. I remember doing this a time or two for my big brother, although I don't know that he would believe that even today! I don't however, remember being affectionate w/ my big brother the way that Aleigh and AJ are.

I called my mom tonight to ask her to email me the one and only photo that I remember being somewhat affectionate w/ James when we were kids! It's a photo of us at my 5th birthday party at the Ronald McDonald playhouse (a popular place for birthday parties from my childhood in Utah) He was letting me sit in his lap to go down the slide in my red clogs! Mom was too tied up to mess w/ her computer tonight and send the photo to me, but when she does, I will post it! James and I have a great relationship now and don't hesitate to hug on eachother or say I love you, but trust me, that's coming a long way from the sibiling rivalry we had as kids! Even though we weren't known to give hugs freely to each other as kids, I ALWAYS looked up to my big brother and being able to go through school w/ him really helped my self esteem! I was "James West's little sister" I didn't have a name...and I was ok with that! I was actually kind of proud to carry that title! James always had a great reputation for being outgoing, talented, tough, smart, and good looking! I didn't care for the part where all the girls would tell me how attracted they were to my brother, but I still listened and looked at them like they were crazy when they would say "Your so lucky! You get to live with James and see him all the time!" Well, all I could think about was how he loved to pick on me, scare me and stick his nasty sweaty hockey glove hands in my face!


Believe it or not, after all of that, I look back fondly enough on my childhood that I had AJ and Aleigh the exact same distance apart that James and I are, 2 yrs and 3 months. So today, when I saw AJ sitting in Aleigh's favorite chair in front of the TV I thought "oh no, Aleigh's not going to like that!" Well, instead of doing what I would have done and whined in a really annoying voice "Mooommm! James is in my chairrrrr!" She just sat on his lap! The shocking part for me to see was that AJ let her! You have to know they are normal and they do fight and can be very territorial! That's why today was so sweet, because AJ was having a good day and actually let his sister sit on him!

Of course seeing them with Ansley is so special too! She is a lucky little girl to have a big brother and sister who already adore her so much. It has taken a little more time for Aleigh to be as interested, which is why it was particularly sweet when she followed me around the house asking over and over again if she could hold Ansley. I had to grab my camera and was able to get the shot below.

I am greatful for the relationship my kids have. I think a lot of the reason why their relationship is already a lot closer than mine was w/ James at such a young age is because of the way times have changed. James and I used to be able to run out the front door and could be found anywhere within the 2 blocks surrounding our house. For some reason, it seemed safe to just play and not worry about who could be watching us. Now, we are afraid to let our kids go outside and play w/out us out there to watch them. We also don't have many kids in our neighborhood, so AJ and Aleigh are forced to play together. I look forwardf to watching them go through school together and have AJ take Aleigh to school w/ him just like James did for me. I probably won't encourage them to set up eachother w/ their friends though!

Thanks for reading the book I just wrote and listening to me reflect and brag about my kids today!