Sibling Love--Yeah, I Can Dig It

There are some things I have discovered that I now can't get enough of that I used to not even think twice about--anything with toddlers. The darn things are just cute! I can say this without fearing the loss of my man-card because I have a pair of the most adorable toddlers ever.

I was reminded of this late Saturday night/early Sunday morning when I saw a post at NESN.com (awesome site by the way) that talked about two kids at a Red Sox game that started out being cute and cuddly, but ended up with a little kung-fu action going on.

I bet Dad does not think this is quite as cute as I do; or maybe he does.

This makes me think of the relationship my two kiddos have with each other. Jack, the oldest, was not too fond of his new sister, Addison, when she arrived. There would be times when we would have her in what was his old play pen,  go into the kitchen, come back and find her lying on the floor (still smiling) and find Jack standing (as innocent as can be).

What made things like this even cuter was Addison's intense affection for him even thought he didn't want a thing to do with her. She would smile and giggle whenever she say him and always wanted to be with him, sitting next time--she couldn't get enough of him!

But he wanted nothing to do with her. Big time jealousy going on now that he had to share us.

In time it has gotten better. He is much more tolerant of her now, and while he doesn't always want to be around her (she is very intense while he is the exact opposite and totally laid back) he doesn't try to push her off our laps or anything.

On her last birthday he actually gave her a hug and the other night in the tub he kissed her behind. Were not sure if he was trying to be metaphorical and tell us that we kiss her behind too much or if he was just trying to show some love (we will be sure and embarrass the heck out of him when he is a teenager by retelling that story).

Like other autistic kids Jack and Addy are often in their own little world all the time. They see the world around them, but don't take any notice of the other people in it. They recognize Mom and Dad of course; they don't always obey when we tell them do so something of course...

Anyway...I bring this up only because we don't get to see our little guys do a lot things like in the gif above. So when they do it's a pretty big deal. Yeah, we will not want them fighting, but if they did it would show that they have enough awareness to recognize that there is someone or something else in their space.

Which would be progress.

Yeah so when I see little kiddos playing together or even fighting like in the gif I think its cute. And then I look forward to the day when my kids will act that way because that will mean they are progressing and not letting autism define who they are.

Because it is not who they are.