Sharing

To share or not... it seems to be a perpetual inner battle, a recurring question my two 11 month old sons struggle to answer. To share or not to share?

More often than not, the answer is the latter. Especially if the object in question is a bright new toy. Such as their toy airplane, that only one child can (safely) push at one time. It wouldn't matter if we had two, because they would indefinitely go after their brother's toy. So we have to place one child (Matthew,below, being pushed by Adam) on the passenger seat:

Food is no better. If I give one child a bite of watermelon, his brother will soon be upon me:

If I hear a random scream when the kids are seemingly playing together happily, it is often because both boys were pushing around this toy (below), Adam tripped & fell, and Matthew kept going, somehow mowing over Adam in the process. Adam will either be underneath the toy, or crawling after is as fast and furiously as his four little limbs will move him.
This evening, though, was different. As I was putting the boys to bed, I gave Matthew his sippy cup, which Adam promptly swiped and took for himself. Nonplussed, I just gave Matthew the other sippy cup, which Adam swiftly stole as well. Sighing, I took the first sippy cup that Adam had discarded and gave that cup to Matthew. Quickly, Adam took that cup as well! This went on 5-10 times.

I felt sure a breakdown from Matthew was imminent, but he soon began laughing, and actually offering his cup to Adam, which of course Adam took, and I would give the other cup to Matthew. At this point, both boys were laughing (no doubt thinking this was a game).

And then, the unthinkable happened.

Adam (having both sippy cups) offered one to Matthew to drink from.

!!

Matthew drank from the outstretched cup, and then both boys were laughing again. And so was Mommy. So then, Adam offered the cup for me to drink from as well.

Ahhhh, I am just going to let that sweet moment sink in, to prepare me for future challenges :)