Make up your minds children

I have said it before and I will say it again... what is with the constant bickering between siblings? Do you like each other or not? Make up your minds.

I did not have siblings. I LONGED to have a sister. I dreamt of having someone to play with all the time. I wished my mom would say to me "you are going to be a big sister!". But she never did. I was an only child.

And let me tell you people something... if I had talked to my friends the way my sons talk to each other I would have gotten in a whole heap of trouble. And really, if my friends had treated me the way my boys treat each other they would NOT have been my friends!

Siblings are bizarre. They can be so sweet and loving to each other one minute and then smack each other in the back of the head the next. It really makes no sense.

My sons share a room and most of the time things go fairly well. But occassionally I want to lock the two of them in their room and not let them out until they learn to get along!

My husband has two younger brothers and the first time I stayed with his family (while we were dating during college) I very nearly had a nervous breakdown about how mean the brothers were to each other! I mean seriously, it REALLY stressed me out. And I have since learnt that they are actually pretty nice to each other.

I really wonder sometimes what God was doing when He gave ME- an only child of a single mother - two sons, 17 months apart. They make no sense to me whatsoever.
This morning they were playing nicely in their room at their Lego table- yes, we skipped church this morning due to the illness that is plaguing our home... well, my husband didn't since he had to preach and all- anyway, they were playing nicely and then all of a sudden I hear screaming and the words "you're stupid" and "you're not my best friend anymore" and "I don't like you anyway" coming from the room. I rush in to find out what the problem is... apparently one son said he preferred the colour blue over the colour red.

Really.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????

WHO CARES????

It would seem my sons care. Deeply. One was heartily offended on behalf of the colour red and decided he could no longer participate in a friendship with a boy who preferred blue over his beloved red.

I stood in disbelief staring at my sons as they explained the situation to me. I said nothing. I turned around and walked out of the room. Sometimes I just have no words.

A few minutes later my little Olivia toddled into the boys room. She LOVES her brothers. Most of the time they love her too.
Until she starts messing up their Lego creations. Then I hear this "-insert sound of large truck backing up here- MOOOOMMMM Olivia is touching our Lego and she's WRECKING EVERYTHING!!!!".

Before I became the mother of sons I did NOT know that boys instinctively know how to make vehicle sounds. But they do. I certainly did not teach them this. In fact I think they knew how to make these sounds well before they knew how to speak in full sentences.

And apparently every crisis must have machinery sounds of some sort inserted into it in order to convey the enormity of the situation.

The "BEEP BEEP BEEP" sound of a truck backing up is my sons way of telling me the situation has reached a critical point.

Of course since I don't allow Olivia into the boys room without supervision (Lego is not safe for little ones) I was standing RIGHT THERE and did not need the screaming ovation. But I got it nonetheless. And it is my humble observation that Olivia was in fact NOT wrecking EVERYTHING... just a couple of things!

So I removed Olivia from the boys presence and took her to her most favourite activity... bath time. Olivia LOVES to bath. And interestingly enough, Shadow (our cat) loves to watch. I don't know why.
Olivia has full babbling conversations with Shadow. I think she would really like him to jump on in the tub with her but so far he has refused.
I think Shadow watches the toys in the tub like he would watch fish in a tank if we had any. Which is one of the many reasons why I don't think it would be wise for us to actually GET any fish. I am pretty sure Shadow would eat them.... or at least play with them until they died. And I just don't want to explain that to my kids.

Speaking of poor Shadow- we think he got a bit of frostbite on his one ear because the tip of it is all bent over now. Poor guy. But that is what you get when you refuse to come inside in -30 degree weather. Crazy feline.
This is the look I got when I told her not to grab Shadow's tail. She was most unimpressed with me. Shadow was grateful though I am sure.