Myth or Fact?

"It'll be so nice that they're close in age!"

"They are going to best friends."

"It's hard at first, but it will be worth it!"

True? Or the same merit as "It's good luck to have it rain on your wedding day?" cause I got that one, too.

Here is what I see from the "boots on the ground" perspective: my daughter tackling my son to the ground. I see her dragging him by his arms and on his belly across the floor. I see her trying to ride him like a pony as he tries to crawl away. I see her walk past him and bump him with her shoulder so that his still fragile stance easily falls over. I see her grab his lovey from him and adopt it as her own. I hear her say "no, no, no" and mother him to death. I hear her plug her ears and scream, "It's too loud! It's too loud!" as he cries.

My son is usually a passive participant, simply reacting to her "affection." But he gets his digs in when he can. He's been trained to screech the second she gets within an inch of him. Last night he randomly approached her and pulled her hair. If she's particularly moody he will waddle his way right up to her and poke her. "Da," he says. His word for everything, but here I imagine it to be taunting in tone. She responds exactly the way he wanted and shrieks to high heaven. He waddles away with his two bottom teeth showing, pleased with his performance.

Two weekends in a row, we were lucky enough to have some grandparent sleepovers. A couple of weeks ago they went to Gigi and Pop Pop's, and both of them went despite my daughter's sentiments that they were "her Gigi and Pop Pop, no Josiah's." Last weekend, my daughter spent the night with my in-laws, and we were told in no uncertain terms that she wanted to go alone. 

"No Josiah tum." Josiah is not coming. 

"Nayna go Granmom Granpop's, no Josiah." Layna is going to Grandma and Grandpa's. Josiah is not.

"I go alllllll by myself." ...that seems clear.

The surprise of the century was when we all reunited the next day and she said "Josiah, I miss you so bad."(I will show it by stealing your cheerios and knocking you to the ground.)

So, perhaps all the hard is now, and all the benefit is later, and this is just a forced lesson in delayed gratification.

My brother are and I are 18 months apart, which means I do have some idea about the benefits of siblings close in age. The fact that we were completely opposite in high school didn't stop me from trying to tag along and/or steal his friends completely. We crossed the lines of dating each other friends, and I even ended up marrying one. (That fact is going to make me interview my kids friends with even greater intensity.)

Now, because we are both reasonable adults, we are much more similar. We even share some hobbies, like running. We still have some seriously notable differences: I majored in Public Relations, he will soon graduate with a PhD in Applied Mathematics. (What?) Nonetheless, we stay in touch, and enjoy hanging out when we get a chance.

So I see glimpses of hope that these statements might ring true. But here's to being hopeful that I don't have to wait 28 years to know for sure...