These three are thick as thieves and fight like Hell. Have there been any siblings that defied that law of gravity? I’m sure somewhere, but not in our house. My brother and I were were nearly five years apart and though we squabbled, we didn’t run in the same groups or long for the same types of things. Three children in three years has been a far different ballgame than the childhood I remember. They do have Amos, a younger sibling by four years and though he roams parallel with them, there’s not much bickering. His extra special needs and autism leave him as the three year old pet of the family and thus, the threesome try my patience and capture my delight.

Inspired by my Sunday school lesson, I made a plan yesterday to shirk for the afternoon. We came home, minus technology, and they nearly drove me crazy. They tore up closets and beds, playing hide and seek, unearthed thousands of Pokémon cards, found and lost precious items and pestered me relentlessly about going to Walgreens, lunch, and of course, technology. As they played though, I remembered the beauty in having a sibling. Playmates right there for the taking and the type of play that is born of boredom and the long afternoon of a Sunday looming on the horizon.

It’s just mess, I try to tell myself. I am so blessed with all four of my children and quite secretly adore the three that love and annoy as voraciously as they defend. I didn’t know it would be like this. I had thought no further than round babies in smocked bubbles with chubby hands and wobbly steps. This crowd? Well, they are quite big now and travel with stinky shoes rather than pacis, question and harass me rather than pleading for popsicles. I still have one little one, Amos, he is still much like a toddler so we live in two worlds. The contrast is striking and was lovely to me on a unquiet destructive Sunday afternoon. I was reminded that stages are to be appreciated rather than lamented, enjoyed rather than begrudged, full of joy rather than impatience. Yes, I bit my tongue and remembered and then two hours later, they watched a movie.