22 Months
My kids are 22-months apart. I always think that is so close in age, until I remember that my sister and I are only 14-months apart. Which always prompts the question, “What the hell were my parents thinking?!?!”
Having a sister so close in age, I never really worried about how close in age Bean and Gracie would be. In fact, even when I was in the throws of their ages being so challenging, I didn’t realize it. It wasn’t until we got through that really hard time that I realized that their ages had been an issue.
Having two kids is awesome, but those first few months – maybe even the first year – were a doozey. Bean was going through the terrible two’s while we had a newborn. He was potty training while we were dealing with midnight feedings. I mean, I don’t think you could pick two more needy phases for kids to be in. Don’t get me wrong, we loved every minute of it! But looking back, I can certainly see that it might have been a little bit easier if they had been a little further apart in age.
The kids are a little bit older now. Gracie is 18-months old and Bean is three. And our world is getting better and better and cooler and cooler and insanely fun. These two ages might be my favorite so far. I think I’ve said that about every age, but it is really true this time.
Now, Bean and Gracie are at that magical age where they can play together without me and Chris having to referee or sit with them the entire time. Their favorite thing to do is to run around upstairs together. I put the baby gate up at the top of the stairs, and so they run back and forth between their two bedrooms at their own will. Chris and I sit downstairs and just smile as we listen to them giggle and squeal and talk back and forth.
Gracie can’t talk in sentences yet, but she can say a lot of words and make a lot of noise. In fact, when she gets going, she can sound like she’s speaking complete sentences, until you realize you haven’t understood a single word she’s said. But that doesn’t seem to matter to Bean. He has full conversations with Gracie sitting upstairs in their rooms. I remember my mom telling stories about how I could understand what Ginny was saying long before anyone else could understand her, and I often think Bean and Gracie are the same way. And that makes me happy.
Bean is at that awesome age of exploration. His favorite question right now is, “Why?” It’s never in an argumentative way, but he’s just always curious. Gracie is also at an age of curiosity. She wants to know how things work. Between the two of them trying to understand everything around them, they have taken apart almost our entire house. They get into EVERYTHING. It drives us crazy, but it is incredibly fun to watch their little minds work.
I know that they may not always get along, but I also know that even when my sister and I went through phases of not being close, we were still close in ways other people would never understand. I hope that for my kids. I can’t wait to watch their relationship grow.
17 Comments
Jenna@CallHerHappy
We’ve got one in the oven right now, and they are going to be 22 mos apart as well. Our “plan” was two years apart, so it turned out pretty well. This is a great insight into what it might be like! Thanks 🙂
Rebekah
I love this! My girls are 2 years and 1 day apart and they are best buds. They are 3 and 13 months now and the oldest is so protective of her “baby” (as she still calls her!). They recently started sharing a bedroom so we turned the extra room into a playroom and they love going in there and making messes together!
Amber
Our boys are 2 1/2 yrs apart and are the best of friends (most of the time of course!). Now I’m due NEXT WEEK (eeeeeek!) with our third boy and my now youngest and the new baby will be 21-22 months apart depending when he arrives. Although it can be very challenging at times like you said in your post, I love that my kids are close in age. I hope they continue to be good friends as they get older. My parents had 3 kids but we were 4 years apart each so there’s a huge gap between my sister and I. It took a long time for us to build that close kind of relationship.
Melissa W.
I have 2 boys, 20 mos. apart and I totally agree with all this. The first year was a doozy, but it just gets better and easier- in a sense! I love hearing them talk and play together- it is music to our ears! They are truly best friends right now and I hope it continues!
Dessi
I lovee this! My brother and I are 17 months apart and I always knew I would want my children to be close in age. Built in best buds 🙂 our little man is almost 8 months now so we can work one #2 soon! 🙂
Becky
I usually don’t comment, but I just had to on this post. My brother and I are also 22 months apart, and I could understand what he was saying long before my parents (or anyone else) could! We don’t talk as much anymore because we’re in two different cities for university (I’m turning 22 soon and he’s 20), but your post made me miss him so!
Tara W.
My boys are 20 months apart. One is almost 2 years old, and the other just turned 3 months. Most days I want to tear my hair out, or just sit and cry. But they are so adorable, and hearing that it gets easier definitely helps. Great post!
Casey
My first 2 are 22 months apart too. Now they are 5 and 3 and so, so, hilarious. They make up games, play pretend and fight like cats and dogs. The younger one is always looking for the older one. And the older one is always encouraging the younger one (which is good and at times very bad HA!). They have the perfect age gap. Now my second and my third are 33 months apart and that’s difficult! My oldest doesn’t really remember life before her sister but the second one knows that she’s not the “baby” anymore and she’s been more challenging. But it’s so worth it to watch them grow up together. My brother and I are 5 years apart and we weren’t close growing up but are thick as thieves now, and that’s all I want for my girls. If they fight and bicker as young ones so be it, I just want them to lean on each other in adulthood! And I fully believe siblings have their own language. My girls jibber jabber and ramble on and fully understand each other when no one else has a clue, luckily the 5 year old is a good translator and she keeps me in the loop!
Suzanne
My children are 22 months apart also. Matthew is now 30 and Ashlee is 29. I knew having them that close they were either going to love each other or hate one another. Lucky for me they Love each other even more as they get older. But what fun it was to watch them grow up being such good friends.
Katie McC
My kids are 33 months apart, and are now 17 and 14. They are two school years apart. And they are very close. And really always have been. I always wanted a big brother and feel so fortunate that my daughter has one. They really do love each other and get along (though that’s not to say they don’t get on each other’s nerves sometimes). I hope they will always stay close and love each other as much as they do now.
Alaina
Aw, they will be friends for life. And I have a feeling as Gracie gets older, Bean is going to be extremely over protective of his baby sister 🙂
jayme @ No Regrets Living
“But looking back, I can certainly see that it might have been a little bit easier if they had been a little further apart in age.”
Nah! It’d have been easier if they’d be CLOSER in age!!! Well, maybe. Who knows!?
Rachel
I was born 6 days before my sister’s first birthday, my parents are clearly mad! We always love being so close in age and used to countdown to my birthday so that we could be ‘twins’ for 6 days! 22 months sounds like a great age gap, now the initial phase is done 🙂
Sarahpliz
My older sister and I are 22m apart. Our kiddos will be 23m apart (shhhh, we haven’t told anyone yet). I think it’s the perfect interval!
Alyssa
So glad to hear things are getting good. My kids are 24 months apart, my daughter is approaching on 18 months and it seems some days are better and some are a huge struggle. Hopefully we are coming out of struggles and into fun.
Barbara Manatee
I had twins in 2006 and when they were 18 months old, I became pregnant with our 3rd child. At first I was a bit scared to have 3 children so close in age…how would I handle it? But now that they are all here, ages 5 & 3, I’m so glad they are all so close in age. For one…even with the twins, they’ll never remember life without the 3 of them. In their minds, its always been ‘them.” Also both my husband and I grew up in families where we had many years between ourselves and our siblings. Neither of us grew up “with” our siblings but almost on our own…so I love knowing our children are growing up together, will share many memories and can enjoy their childhood together. 🙂
Kat
I never realized that you and your sister were so close in age! WOW. I used to think that it might be nice to have kids REALLY close in age….but once I had one that just didn’t become an option to me. Midnight feedings and a needy toddler?! ummm no thank u??? Am i selfish or what? (don’t answer that)