Siblings

Have any? I don't. My mom is a terrible mother and she didn't want to be a mom in the first place, my dad just talked her into not terminating their 'oops'. Which I'm grateful for, really. She had no business adding to that though so I'm good with the fact that I never had another to share in her lunacy. The Pioneer Woman has a photo contest up right now entitled Sisters and I just love the variety that it resulted in. Most pictures are of sisters near in age. There are a few singles that the sister was apparently the one taking the pic (which is ok I guess) and one or two of sisters drastically different in age. One that's even (obviously) and older sister with an adopted infant baby sister (one is white and the other very black). It got me thinking about how my two daughters are going to have a different sort of relationship than most sisters.

Since I have no siblings and consequently, no real life frame of reference, I can only make these assumptions based on what I've seen between other sibling relationships. The hubby has an older brother that is 5 1/2 years older than him. It's a decent age difference. For the most part they were never really in the same school as youngsters and let's face it, no matter what the age difference big brothers are going to beat the crap out of the younger one. The hubby is very wiley, I think his brother taught him this form of defense at a very early age. They didn't get on well in their younger years (his brother was a bit of a trouble maker) but once they became adults they became good friends. I think sisters are much different though, for one thing the physical aggression is not there as much. They'll be plenty of fighting I'm sure but the closer they are in age the more competition that will be going on.

There will be, for all intents and purposes, 10 years between my daughters. They will never ever attend the same schools at the same time. Their emotional needs will be different due to their maturity. My eldest will be more like another momma to my youngest. With some kids I think that may make them resentful but if you knew my eldest you'd know that it won't be a problem as long as she still gets mommy or daddy's undivided attention when she needs it. I don't think this will be a problem at all. We're very used to her emotional needs and she always let's us know exactly what she needs if we, lord forbid, don't notice. Each of them will be raised much like an only child since there will be such an age discrepancy. Toy pilfering will be negligible, our eldest will probably be around to teach the youngest to do girly stuff like put on make up, etc. It'll be very interesting to see how their relationship grows. Like I said, I have no frame of reference.

How about y'all? I know 99.999% of Texans seems to have kids in litters rather than the singletons most southern Californians raise. Cost of living, space, and whatnot being to blame for that. Do you guys have any siblings far off in age from yourself? I'm not so good with the pregnancy thing or babies, I think it's a patience and pain tolerance thing. I have neither. Hence the need for a HUGE gap between children. And yes, this is the last. No way I'm doing this again.