What sibling rivalry?

I just sat down to blog about my latest revelation in the wonders of having two children, then I find out there is a virtual shower going on for Her Bad Mother, Mrs. Chicky and Mrs. Chicken, who are all expecting their second ones soon. Shower gifts are being wrapped in blog posts of advice. Here's my gift to them.

I've written many a post about this in the past. (See here, here and here.) In fact, it's practically all I write about lately as I'm just six months into life with two children so I'm still figuring it out myself. You'll get a bit of wisdom from those older posts. But what I want to say here about having two children is not really advice, but encouragement.

Yesterday I saw a new benefit of having two children that I'd never fully realized. Z was doing something silly (what are the odds?) and the Lil' Man got to chuckling at her. She kept doing it just to amuse him and he kept laughing as deep a belly laugh as a little guy can. His shoulders were actually moving up and down. He might have even slapped his knee. But it was the eyes that got me. I thought stars were going to shoot out of them and sprinkle fairy dust on us all.

I see more love in the adoring way my son looks at my daughter than I've ever seen in my life. We made him for her. We made him because I never had a sibling and I always wanted one. I wanted them both to have the experience that I didn't.

Seeing the love flow between them makes up for every one of the sleepless nights.