Bubble Magic

There is a true comraderie between my brother, my sister and me that comes from having shared the expereinces of growing up together.

After Joey was born, I knew we would try again, partly for ourselves, but also because I wanted him to expereince a sibling relationship. I wanted him to have a brother or sister to grow up with, to talk to and to grow into adulthood with.

Of course, when Laura was born, Joey was just two years old, so I didn't expect this bond to be forged right away. In the first few days of her being home, he did express interest by asking "What's the baby doing?" but as the days moved to weeks, his interest waned and the sentiment became more like 'What's the baby still doing here?" After a few more months, she became an avenue for him to exersize his newfound independence and bossiness: "the baby can't play with this toy, it's mine" or "She's too little for this toy so I'm going to take it".

But last night, I caught a glimpse of the friendship that I hope will come. Laura was in her jumper-roo and Joey was blowing bubbles. Not so much out of friendliness, but more out of curiosity to see what would happen, Joey got into her face and started blowing bubbles at her. My first instinct was to tell him to back away a little so he wouldn't blow bubble stuff all over her, but I held my tongue.

Suddenly, Laura started cracking up, which led Joey into a frenzy--jumping up and down and yelling, "She likes it! She likes it and she thinks I'm funny. I'm making her laugh!

And for me, all I could do was smile as I realized this was the first positive back and forth exchange between my children. Between siblings.