One of the reasons that we have (only) two children is how very well our two "go" together. Despite their 4.5 year age difference, they love each other so fiercely, so protectively that, at times, it's mind-blowing. I can't punish one -- even if it's for, say, hurting the other -- without the other one getting angry. The other day, when I took away Petunia's iPod touch as punishment, Dash handed me his, too -- as if to say, "we're in this together, Mom, with or without you."
When Dash received a Barnes and Noble gift card for his 5th birthday, his first thought was to take Petunia shopping. We recently spent the card, and he told Petunia to "pick out a book for you that I can buy with my credit card!" And then he found another book (about the Beatles) that they could read together.
Petunia operates the same way. If she's buying a "midoz" (collectible Japanese eraser that's around 99 cents), she always asks to get one for Dash... same if it's a book or a movie from the library or a trip to Starbucks. Dash has been known to refuse a trip to his favorite ice cream shop unless Petunia is coming along, too. Now, I love my siblings, too, but I never would've refused ice cream unless they got some, too. That's just un... un... unsiblinglike? improper? weird?
And then tonight, as Dash was going to bed, I talked with him about his first-ever upcoming t-ball bat-a-thon. I talked with him about how to fundraise (ask relatives and friends!), about how the money would benefit t-ball (field maintenace) and about winning prizes for helping out with the fundraising.
His first question?
"Is there something for Petunia, too?"
Not what are the prizes, not how many can I win, not oooh, I hope there's a cool hat... but "what do they have for my sister?"
Oh, how I wish I could just freeze them like this. I want to freeze Petunia at 9.5 and Dash at 5 and remember them always loving each other this much. I want to engrave in my mind the image of Petunia playing school with Dash and successfully getting him to count and to copy things she writes ... them playing Playmobil together, or wrestling with each other and the dog ... trying to teach each other to skateboard, digging inchworms, running and laughing and playing and doing all of those things that childhood is all about.
I don't want to tell them that when they're older, it'll be so much harder to laugh together, because they'll live on opposite coasts -- and tickle-fights are a lot harder with that much space in between.
But, then again, I doubt they'll ever be that far apart for that long, and that's just fine with me.
Recent Comments