“Are they twins?”

It’s a question we get asked often when we’re out and about with our toddlers. Our normal response is, “No, but they sure think they are”.

You see, he only had to live on this earth for 4 days before she came along, so in his mind, she’s always been there. Growing up right alongside each other, these cousin live the big and the small moments right alongside each other.

They have breakfast together most days, and often lunch and dinner too. They love hard and fight hard too…just like siblings. There’s a comfort level between them that I never had the honor of experiencing.

It’s the gift of raising cousins we are giving them when we made the conscious decision to raise our babies near each other. Down the street to be exact. So close that they can ride their bikes to see each other, and even talk over walkie-talkies from their very own living rooms.

They spend their days navigating a playscape, climbing trees, and finding their imaginations in the woods-together. Learning to walk and talk by watching each other. Sharing the good (and the bad habits). They have created traditions of movie nights with popcorn and M&Ms, and making gingerbread houses together each year complete with sharing a sugar high. They have a built-in best friend for sleepovers with pizza that spill into homemade muffin in the mornings. They have learned together that a dance party in the playroom can cure just about anything, and that forts made of blankets are the best place to giggle.

They make themselves right at home and find comfort in each other. They share a friendship along with their DNA, and I’m so grateful to have a front seat to watch the unique bond cousins can have by growing up close and age and in close proximity.