Sibling Rivalry

Question of the Day: When do kids start to really like each other?

We wake up in the morning... everything's great. It takes about 20 minutes for everyone to feel like looking at each other but after that, things are pretty good. Until... someone bumps into someone else, or picks up a toy the other person had last week (how did you know I was going to play with that again, just as you picked it up?)"Stop looking at me!! All you ever do is LOOK at me!! Why does he always look at me? Does he have to do EVERYTHING the same as me? He's being nasty, put him in a TIME-OUT!" And so the drama begins.

The saying "Two's company, three's a crowd" is so true. My oldest son and youngest son get along the very best. My middle and youngest, fight like crazy 50% of the time. My middle idolizes his big brother, who he often refers to as, "My best friend A," but his "best-friend" doesn't exactly like the attention... since he already has a best-friend, he doesn't feel that he needs two... plus, "brother's can't be best-friends!" He finds the attention "annoying." There has to be a point in time when this shifts and they actually start liking to spend time with each other... right? Perhaps around age 8? Oh God, please let it be age 8!! But seriously, I thought that having boys, although busier, was suppose to be less dramatic. I'm kinda thinking this isn't true.

One thing though... when it matters most... you can see the love. They are very empathetic with each other. If one of them is hurt, the other is right there, making sure that he's okay. My oldest takes care of the little ones when we're in a parking lot, or grocery store, keeping them in line and making sure they don't get out of sight. If Baby O falls down, S is running to me to get me to help. But don't you dare think about playing with that truck I was thinking about playing with yesterday... that could cause World War III.

PS - update from the plague... the house has been decontaminated and everyone is feeling great! :)