a hint of things to come

even though it was never in our plan to have children one grade apart, that's what God decided to give us and we've grown to love their age spread.   i know i've said it many times before, but liam and susanna actually consider themselves best friends.  they fight from time to time, but for the most part, they're close enough in age that they share so many similar interests and get along amazingly well.  i can't imagine it any other way.

BUT i know this age spread will pose its own sort of problems down the road.  i got a glimpse of it this weekend, as susanna hosted her first-ever sleepover.  liam was at a hockey game with a friend and got home hours after the girls had gone to bed -- thank goodness.  because that left only this morning that we had to deal with the three of them together.

but oh what a morning.

we first heard them at 6:04 a.m.  susanna and her friend had decided they couldn't enjoy the early dawn hours without liam, so they ventured across the hall to wake him up.  (note: liam is usually up by 6:04 a.m. and has already at that point let the dog out, fed her, gotten the newspaper from the end of the driveway, and is halfway through the sports section.  but after going to bed at 10:30 last night, he was a little off schedule.)

so chris and i awoke to little girl giggles and squeals as the older brother was apparently strutting around like a proud peacock, showing off.  susanna's friend was smitten, at the ripe old age of six, with this older boy.  (ironically, she has a younger brother who is as close in age to her as liam and susanna are.  but the dynamic of older sister-younger brother is a totally different ball game.)  "leeeeeee-ummmmm," she'd croon, beckoning him into their room to play.  everything he did was high-larious to her.  liam, apparently, was a rock star.  as she put on her shoes to leave, she told susanna that she as soon as she got home, she was going to write liam a letter and mail it to him.

so i know what path we're headed down.  a path where their social circles will inevitably mix, where liam and his friends will likely be very interested in susanna and her friends -- and vice-versa, to be sure.  a path that will take us to sleepovers where we might have to string up that yellow police tape with "do not cross" printed on it.

but it better be a path where we can count on liam to continue to be his protective self, looking out for his little sister and keeping a very close eye on anyone who might dare date her.  it's the only way we might survive the teenage years.