Brothers, together, all the time.

We have turned a corner. My children PLAY together. This having your kids 19.5 months apart thing is totally working in my favor. Yes, yes it was hard at first. But now, that closeness in age is reaping benefits.
Right now they are sitting on the couch, sharing raisins and graham crackers and watching Baby's Einstein's Old MacDonald movie. Sam announces, "Tractor!" or "Apple!" and Davis agrees and then gives an additional explanation like, "Yes! Tractor! It's a Combine Harvester!" Or "Yes! Apples! Red and Green Apples!". I can just sit over here and blog while the kids bond.
And the day goes on like this. Davis will ask Sammy if they want to play monster trucks and two minutes later they each have a monster truck in their hand and are running around the playroom making vrooming noises.
After dinner last night, we had an hour before bed time and so I laid down on the couch to read my book group book and the kids entertained themselves, playing some kind of game where they put their stuffed animals on their riding toys and sent them careening down the hallway. For the whole hour. It was loud and crazy, but I did not have to do the entertainment!
All of sudden I have time! If Sam decides he needs a shovel, Davis will go fetch it and then they will build pretend sandcastles on the carpet, which will then segway into pretending to cook. That will have killed a good thirty minutes where they played by themselves! Of course, then it will remind them that they are hungry and need me to make them a snack, but they will do it together!
I started them in gymnastics class last week and put them in separate classes. I followed Sam around the gym while Davis was to stay in his class with his peers and his teacher. It was a failure. Sam was completely overwhelmed and wanted to stay in my arms the whole time and Davis kept ditching his class to come over and hang with us. This week we transferred Davis into the baby class with us. Everyone was happy. Davis did each activity first (and well, he's the oldest in the class) and Sam followed along determined to keep up with his brother.
I am so glad we had our children close together. They share toys and interests. Davis is teaching Sam to use the potty and how to talk and how to be social, because Davis is just now learning these things too. And it is so fun to watch them as peers.
It's still hard. Night before last Michael walked into the kitchen to find me in tears. As he held me close I whispered, "I hate them!". But he understood that I was just tired and that I didn't hate them. He gave me a minute and helped me clean the kitchen and get clothes on them and that's all I really needed. Two boys of almost the same age sometimes need things at the same time that they are incapable of getting for themselves and I feel stretched and assaulted. But I can get through it. Especially as I know that tomorrow morning is a new day, where whether or not I plan a playdate with friends, we'll be having our own little playdate between the best of friends- brothers.