In the weeks since Christmas a change has settled over my eldest children. Seemingly out of the blue, Sweet B (2) and Squirt (3 1/2) are now playing together peacefully for large blocks of time. Not only that, they are doing it without prompting or direction. I'll find them sequestered in our closet pretending to be hiding from bad guys (Squirt is doing a lot of directing) or making a birthday cake for me in Sweet B's play kitchen.
This is from a duo who just a few weeks ago couldn't manage 5 minutes alone together before there was screaming and crying.
I'm in awe of the miracle of it all. Sometimes I'll just whisper to B Daddy, "Babe...they're doing IT again." Then we watch together with bated breath until one of them breaks the spell by shoving/biting/screaming at the other. For now I feel like a golden age is upon us. A new era in which siblings play imaginatively with one another and Mommy can put make-up on in peace. In this brave new world Mommy does not have to partake in the toddler-play herself, she can watch from afar with a gentle sigh, "oh to be 3 again..." Mommy no longer has to endlessly mine Pinterest for "toddler activities" instead she can listen to the sounds of Buzz Lightyear (Squirt) rescuing Woody (always Sweet B) again and again from the evil Sid (poor Benny Boo) while she preps dinner in blissful solitude.
This must be what people are talking about when they say it's lovely to have children close in age. Is my stretched out stomach finally receiving its reward for incubating these tinies one right after the other? What merriment will 2014 bring when Blue Eyes can run and talk and join in the mischief?!?
Yep - this is it. And it only gets better. I mean, worse too, but mostly BETTER! :)
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