Awwwwwwww, hayden, I have to admit that this story gave me goosebumps! I can very much relate to this story as we have kids of many different ages, and I can see one of our younger ones doing what that little 9-year-old did. And to have a teenage <em>BOY</em> react in such an incredibly kind manner…WOW!!! I’m glad that the mom decided to call you. I would have…and HAVE done things like that before! Your kids sound truly WONDERFUL!!! :)</p>
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Oh, this is just sooooooooooooo sweet!! I had a similar-type relationship with my 9-year-younger brother, so I can definitely picture this interchange. OMG, what an adorable story! Thanks for sharing this! :)</p>
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<em>ROFL</em>!!! She’s lucky she didn’t get a “shower”!!! My boys, esp my oldest, had a tendency to demonstrate fountain-like behavior in the baby bathtub! ;)</p>
<p>These stories are <em>SO</em> cute! Thank you to those of you who’ve shared them! :D</p>
<p>My brother-in-law’s two daughters, close in age, have different interests, physiques and personalities. Nonetheless, when both went to the same overseas program and were asked to submit forms that asked, “Who or what do you love most in the world,” each wrote the other’s name, unbeknownst to the other. </p>
<p>When the program director showed them their forms, they melted.</p>
<p>B - omgosh your story and kids sound exactly like ours. </p>
<p>Mine are definitely oil and water too. Five years apart and different genders with no other siblings makes for issues. Both act like only children; ldgirl wonders why we ever bothered to have ldboy; and ldboy lives to torment his sister. (It’s actually boring around here without all the fighting now that she is off at school.)</p>
<p>One story about mine that comes to mind… My son was in 6th grade, his first year at middle school, and he was competing in the school spelling bee. He was very nervous, defending 5th grade champ competing against 7th and 8th graders. My husband and I made a point to attend even though it was precisely at the same time as the h.s. pep rally where the ldgirl and her varsity cheer squad would be performing. When we told her we need to be there for her brother, she said she understood, but rolled her eyes as if the whole situation was appalling. </p>
<p>At the spelling bee, we noticed that all the 5:00 bus kids were required to sit and watch the afterschool spelling bee. There were a bunch of the really popular 8th grade boys and girls in the audience and they were clearly making fun of the ‘nerdy’ spelling bee kids. The worst offenders were seated directly in front of us and I spent the first 45 minutes of the bee preventing my husband from smacking them in the back of the head. My son is small (genetics and a grade skip) and they were especially ruthless in their comments about him.</p>
<p>I was getting really upset when, all of the sudden, in flounces ldgirl in her cheerleading regalia carrying her megaphone and poms. She plops herself in the middle of these little alpha-twerps, turns around to us and asks us how ldboy is doing. She waves to him and he waves back, so it is clear to them who HER little brother is… The ‘popular’ boys eyes were huge and tongues were hanging out as they stared at the ‘high school girl’. It was quite a commotion causing the ‘popular’ girls to go immediately into a pout at all the attention being diverted from them.</p>
<p>ldboy went out in third place, not bad for a 6th grader. And on our way out, ldgirl made sure she kept her arm around his shoulder as though she was so proud to be with him. Later we found out she had gotten a ride over after the pep rally to see her brother in the bee and she had been at the back of the room watching for about 10 minutes before sitting down. She saw what those popular kids were doing and it made her so mad, she decided to SHOW them…lol! </p>
<p>Our son is still living off the cache of that moment…</p>
OMG, I would have TOO!!! Very sweet and touching story! :)</p>
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Oh, I can just PICTURE THIS SCENE, ldmom!!! I can only imagine the look on ldson’s face and the pride he felt at his sister’s eye-catching arrival! GOOD FOR HER!!! I remember how honored and proud S2 felt when his older brother’s gf would come and watch his basketball games last year (even as he was away at school), cheering loudly in the stands! It really impressed his friends that he had a h.s. girl who was rooting for him! Isn’t it especially nice to observe these rare moments when the kids ARE like oil and water!!!</p>
<p>Jeez-- what nice stories!
My own first sibling memory was at around 3 or 4, being closed in a giant cardboard box and locked in a neighbor’s pitch black basement by my sister and her friend (they told me if I got in the box, it would turn into a really neat choo-choo ride). Other highlights include throwing a half-brick at sister while she chased me with the big pitchfork (with full intent to kill - we hated each other) and lunging across the dinner table, stabbing big brother in the arm with my fork. He had been teasing and tormenting, and I finally just lost it. He will happily tell you he still has the scar. Not true. The strange thing is my mother never seemed to adress any of it, and made sure we seemed from the outside to be a very clean-cut, proper family. The GOOD news is that, once we got out of each other’s hair and went our separate ways, things got better, and as adults, sister and I are very close.
Luckily are own four don’t do much worse than bicker!</p>
<p>OMG, lspf72, I <em>DO</em> believe that you have just infused me with some perspective regarding my kids’ bickering! :eek: I am both amazed and pleasantly surprised that you are now close with your sister…VERY encouraging! :)</p>
<p>~berurah
p.s. I totally agree that parents need to step in when things are out of hand…letting them “hande it themselves” is not always the wisest advice, though there can be a place for that too.</p>
<p>Looking back, aside from the crazy violent stuff, I think the saddest thing is that we rarely even interacted. Not to say it never happened, but I honestly never remember my sister and I playing together. Everyone just did their own, separate thing.</p>
<p>I guess I should must remind myself of this when I hear these guys arguing, laughing, fighting, playing, talking, bickering, etc. At least they’re interacting, in their own way!</p>
<p>My youngest brother (6 years younger than me) was very tolerant when I was going through my hair-cutting stage in HS. He let me practice on him. He let me continue to cut his hair even AFTER I cut his ear. And I still hear about it… :)</p>
<p>DS1 and DS2 are 15 months apart. DS2 has been taller than DS1 since 1st grade. When DS2 was in 2nd grade, his teacher made him write sentences for his spelling words, based on the Roald Dahl books he was reading at the time. One of his sentences read: “My older brother XXX is spindly. His knees are bigger than his legs.” We still get a laugh out of that one, now that DS1 (age 16) is 5’11" and fights to weigh 115 lbs., and DS2 (just turned 15) is 6’3" and 215.</p>
<p>countingdown-- someone recently told me that boys who are late bloomers tend to be the ones who grow the most-- so your older S just might surprise everyone!</p>
<p>Yes, he has been growing at a steady rate since 8th grade – no huge growth spurt. but I keep having to buy longer inseams on the jeans… DS2 has had a much faster growth spurt. My guess is that DS1’ll hit 6 ft. in college.</p>
<p>My S1 has a tolerant streak a mile wide. He let his younger–by nearly 3 years–brother stay glued to his side until S1 was 14 and it just didn’t work to have an 11 year old hanging with the home boys–and girls.</p>
<p>S1 can take the credit for the surreal bravado and self-confidence of S2.</p>
<p>About a year ago, we were travelling in SE Asia and the two of them went out on the (small) town together. At 1 am, they weren’t back and I started to panic. S1 was a seasoned traveller, but S2 wasn’t out of high school. I finally woke DH and told him he had to go out and look for S2. As DH stumbled into his trousers, I heard the boys arguing–about a half kilometer away. </p>
<p>A few minutes later, they were visible on the street corner outside our hotel balcony.</p>
<p>One had succumbed to the sales pressure of the pedicab drivers and he was riding along like a king. The other was striding along with purpose, completely surrounded by a fleet of hopeful pedicab drivers, loudly scolding his brother for getting into the pedicab without establishing a price. They were still arguing when they went into their room for the night.</p>
<p>The next day we learned that the pedicab driver charged the riding son US$25. A complete rip-off of a too-big heart but there it is.</p>