Musings on siblinghood

I have a brother and a sister, but I never grew up with them.  They lived far away, and we only saw each other once a summer.  While I was very conscious that as an only child I got all of my mothers' attention, I also often wished for a sibling in the room next door, someone who shared my unusual life circumstances and who I could talk to about it.

I think that's one of the reasons I wanted more than one child, to live vicariously through them and give them a relationship that I never had.  Jonathan never had siblings his age either, so this is new to both of us.  Today was the first day I got a glimpse of a real bond they have, completely without us:

At breakfast, Jonathan gave Xander and Ari orange juice in mugs, as a fun special thing (usually they have neither, juice nor mugs).  They were so excited, they clinked glasses spontaneously, just like we adults do, and chatted amongst themselves with no fighting.

Then, in the car, they were very jazzed about their new seating arrangements.  A couple days ago we moved Xander into a booster seat and put him and Ari in the second row of the van at their request.  Connor was getting big for the bucket seat, so he's graduated into Xander's big Britax seat in the first row.  Xander helped take off the cover, put it in the washer and dryer, and put it back on, so he was part of the process of "bequeathing" his seat to his little brother.

As I pulled out of the driveway Ari asked me to give him a book to read.  I said no, I was sorry, but that the books were now out of my reach, he would have to entertain himself.  So Ari asked Xander to read him the book.  And Xander read him the entire book!  What made it even more special was that it was a Berenstein Bear book that had originally been mine; I looked at the inscription and Savta had written a note saying how happy she was that I had read it to her.  The note is dated 1986; I was 5.  Xander is now 5.  And he read that same book - beautifully I might add - to his little brother.  He read to him the entire 20 minute car trip, and Ari looked up at him with admiration and love in his face.  Even Connor, who is rear-facing so can see them both, was intrigued and didn't make a peep.  The love and cooperation was wonderful to witness.

Then as they got out of the car, they argued over who would close the door and who would hold which of my hands in the parking lot, and the moment was lost.  But it was amazing while it lasted. :)