My oldest two have gotten into the habit of “e-mailing” each other at the beginning of nap time. And by e-mailing they really mean they are drawing pictures and writing messages back and forth to each other. We’ve worked out a system in which they are allowed to e-mail for the first 30 minutes of nap time. Then, they have to have quiet time in separate rooms for the remaining hour and a half.
I have become a huge fan of the e-mailing time. It is quite precious as a mom to hear them whisper and slipping messages to each other under their doors. It is the most peaceful, argument free time of my day. And sometimes I permit the e-mail time to extend past the designated 30 minute time slot.
These e-mails are not paper less however and quite a lot of drawings and messages are created each week. I simply can not save them all as we’d be drowning in paper trails.
But, from time to time I set aside some gems that I simply can’t part with. Some for sentimental reasons, some because I am impressed with the art work, some because they just make me smile, and serve as momentos of days gone by.
Here are a few recent ones my son drew for his sister.
I loved this one because it was obvious, to me, upon seeing it who he drew. Can you identify the princess he drew for his sister?
Then there is Dora’s mom. This one gave me quite a startle. It was one of the original e-mails he drew months ago. I had no idea Dora’s mother was so heavily endowed!
I know I have mentioned baby Eli here before. Eli is one of my children’s cousin’s and he is adored here at the circus. In fact, both girls have renamed their baby dolls Eli. And my son has taken on the roll of Eli’s dad.
Here is a picture my son drew of my daughter when she had baby Eli at the hospital.
On the left side, you’ll notice the doctor and my son holding baby Eli. Then there is my daughter on the hospital bed in the middle. And lastly there is my daughter holding baby Eli.
I greatly enjoy seeing the drawings my son makes for his sister. I never know what he’ll come up with next.
Isn’t it funny they call this e-mailing instead of letter writing? Sign of the times, I suppose.
Naptime is sacred at my house. At night all three kids share a room b/c it really doesn’t bother me if they stay up late talking and singing. But at nap time every one goes to a different room. My son no longer naps, but he still goes to his “nap room” for quiet time where he may look at books or draw or play quietly for an hour and a half.
For the last few weeks my oldest daughter has wanted to work on “school work” during nap time like her brother. (which means she wants crayons and papers in her room too). I didn’t object, as long as she promised to go to sleep after doing “school” for a little while.
Not long after, I heard a door open, then another, some whispers and two closed doors. I ignored it at first. But after about 10 minutes of doors opening and closing, I feared they’d wake their youngest sister so I went back to see what was up.
My daughter informed me they were sending “e-mails” to each other.
And it was one of those things that was just so cute, that despite the fact that I knew I should make them stop and go to sleep, sucker that I am, I let them keep “e-mailing” as long as they stayed quiet.
Their e-mails consisted of pictures and messages which they would write and then deliver to each other.
This one happens to me my favorite. My son drew it for his sister. He also wrote their names at the top in “kid font.” I totally confiscated it for my file of precious mementos. 
Every now and then at the circus, I find myself enjoying a moment of peace. All too often that peace and quiet is the result of complete and massive destruction going on quietly in another room of the house… say an overflowing sink, or crayon art on the wall, or something else which seems to bind my children in complete quiet.
But sometimes, sometimes all is calm and when I fearfully peek around the corner, I catch a moment like this.
or this
(first one taken one afternoon last week and the second one taken Friday morning… I love how when I walked into the room his arm was around her as natural as can be)
And I do my very best to hold fast to those moments and savor them. Because I know all too soon someone will be touching someone or taking her book or sitting on his blanket. It will be “my turn” and “she hit me!” and “he’s not my best friend” and I will want to throw my hands in the air and scream for quiet!
So I cherish these moments and hold them close. Because in the midst of the whining and arguing and chaos that exists each and every day, beneath that, there is love and comfort and it is my hearts prayer that these children will grow up not just siblings, but life long friends…
I went to a wedding the other night.
The bride looked dashing in her floor length ball gown, with her shoulder length hair worn down. The groom was handsome in his navy blue jacket with a red and gray tie, and a simple black eyed susan taped to his jacket lapel. The bride carried matching black eyes susan’s picked fresh from her mother’s yard. 
As the ceremony began the bride’s cell phone rang. Her groom was most disturbed b/c, “brides don’t carry cell phones to weddings.” This bride was hearing none of that and took the call. She wanted to ask her mom over for casserole that night following the nuptials and had been waiting for her to call her back. After the phone call the groom planted a big wet one on his bride b/c, “they always kiss, dance, and eat cake in weddings… oh and the rings.” The bride was not so keen on the kiss, but did enjoy the dancing turned wwf wrestling on the living room ball room floor afterwards.
The relationship between siblings is a funny thing. I once read a Times magazine article about siblings that really struck me. It’s funny, 3 years later and I still remember this one line “Our spouses arrive comparatively late in our lives; our parents eventually leave us. Our siblings may be the only people we’ll ever know who truly qualify as partners for life.”
Being the mother of three children, I think a lot about the bonds of siblings. It’s been my prayer since one became two that our children would form lifelong bonds of friendship.
Some days I wonder if that’s at all possible. As I negotiate the tense battles of “who gets to use the letter spoon today” and “who gets out of the van first” and listen to them fight because “she’s too loud” or “I had it first” I wonder if they will grow up to be friends or enemies.
And then my son will make a bracelet for his sister at VBS or my daughter will willingly give up her prized position of back seat to her little sister. And I’ll realize that beneath the tormenting and manipulating, they do really love each other.
I especially liked this paragraph from the article.
From the time they are born, our brothers and sisters are our collaborators and co-conspirators, our role models and cautionary tales. They are our scolds, protectors, goads, tormentors, playmates, counselors, sources of envy, objects of pride. They teach us how to resolve conflicts and how not to; how to conduct friendships and when to walk away from them. Sisters teach brothers about the mysteries of girls; brothers teach sisters about the puzzle of boys. Our spouses arrive comparatively late in our lives; our parents eventually leave us. Our siblings may be the only people we’ll ever know who truly qualify as partners for life. "Siblings," says family sociologist Katherine Conger of the University of California, Davis, "are with us for the whole journey."
I pray that through the journey, my children will see each other as more than just the person who shared their bedroom. I pray that they will see each with more frequency than the holidays. I pray that they will have genuine bonds of friendship between each of them that will last through the journey and beyond.
