That sibling bond

When I was pregnant, I read a lot of things about there being a special bond between (or in our case, among) multiple siblings. As the kids have gotten older, I've started to see this in little interactions all over the place.

For instance:

As Daniel has  slowly gotten braver about going up and down the stairs himself, his siblings have become his own personal cheering squad, complete with proud bragging of "look what Daniel did!", "Daniel went up/down the stairs all by himself!"  And Max's joyous, "hip, hip hooray!"

When they were still in cribs, Caroline was the only one who could climb out. If one of the boys was crying for some treason and I couldn't hear him from the front of the house, she would climb up and creep out to me and shyly say, "Max/Daniel needs you..." even though she knew she risked getting in trouble for coming out of her room. 

Since I've taken the sides off their cribs and they can all get out, they've all also decided to be "scared" at bedtime. I always reassure them there's nothing to be afraid if because I'm just outside the door to protect them. The other night it was Caroline who was scared and Max said, very sweetly, "Don't be scared, Caroline, Daniel and I protect you!"

And then there are the times they just proclaim, "group hug!" Or the other day in the dressing room after swimming class when Daniel and Caroline grabbed each other into a hug and said, "you're my best friend". I asked, "what about Max?" and they pulled him in and said, "you're all my best friend! We're all best friends!"

Let's just hope it stays that way!