100 Days of Happiness Day 12

The sister dynamic is as complicated as it is sweet. Each of the sister relationships in this household is like its own individual country with its own foreign government. There is a definite hierarchy… I don’t know all the unspoken rules and customs. Sometimes I will have to intervene when there clearly needs to be some diplomacy, but otherwise I have found it’s best to let the sisters work things out amongst themselves.

When I found out that I was pregnant with another girl when Peyton was a year old, everybody had the same thing to say: “Oh, they’ll be best friends!” Since they would be just over 20 months apart, I thought the same. Do you know what Peyton did when she came to the hospital to meet her baby sister for the first time? She shrieked. It was a shriek of horror, of confusion, of fear. Who was this tiny new girl baby I was holding? I think she resented her new sister for quite some time for stealing her only-child thunder… Like until Quincy was 4. It went both ways. When Quincy was big enough to hold a sippy, she quickly learned how to swing it over her head and wallop Peyton in the face with it. As soon as she was mobile, Quinny knew with cunning accuracy which toy was Peyton’s favorite. That’s the toy Quincy would take and run away with at lightning speed. I remember thinking, “when will they be best friends?” Their relationship took time to grow. They are such different little people – both smart and kind and determined… With a very different approach to how they operate. But eventually they found their groove. Now, although they have separate rooms, I find them sleeping together in the same room almost every night. Sometimes when I come in they are tangled together in an indistinguishable mesh of limbs and hair. They have their own jokes and even their own language. Though they might not fully admit it, they are best friends. Brooklyn’s sister dynamic is a completely different ball of wax. Peyton mothers her more and still calls her "bebe," even though Brookie tries desperately to be big like her sisters. A great deal of the time, Brooklyn trying to ease her way into the big sister niche bothers Quincy. Those two hit heads quite a bit. But I know eventually Brookie will earn her way into the circle. And they will be friends for life.  When I find little cards like this, it warms my heart. Brooklyn made this for Quin for her friend slumber party this weekend. She wasn’t encouraged to – she just did it. It makes me happy to see the love she has for her sister.