A Special Kind Of Music To My Ears...

It's funny the things that sibling rivalry brings out in my children. Some days, it's just the little spats that drive me nuts, some days it's a kind of competition to see who can do what the best or the fastest. Sometimes, though, it's this kind of thing. And while the tone of their voices grates my ears, I have to admit to being somewhat amused.

We had just finished Sesame Street this morning when the kids decided they wanted to play Candy Land. Being the tired-of-Candy-Land Mommy that I am, I suggested that they set it up and play with each other while I watched them from a chair a whole three feet away. They warmed to this idea very quickly and soon were playing Candy Land with a whole new set of rules. Rules that I didn't understand, but they both seemed content and were playing great, creating more rules as they went, discarding those that were older than eight seconds.

They played well like this for about half an hour before they tired of the game. At this point, they jumped up and ran off to find something else to drag out. I called them down quickly and reminded them to please take care of their game and put it away so we could find all the pieces the next time.

What ensued was cleaning chaos. Both kids wanted to fold up the game board. Just as I thought war was about to break out, Thomas opted for the higher ground. He pulled himself to full height and announced to Sarah Grace that she could fold the board. He would do all the hard work.

Because Sarah Grace is the competitive little thing that she is, she quickly folded the board, tossed it in the general direction of the box, and insisted that she could do hard work, too.

The giggling started as both of them scrambled to pick up the most cards and people. Needless to say, the mess got worse before it got better. By the time they were finally picking the stuff up in earnest, there was much fussing about who 'didn't get to pick up more'. The laughter was over; these kids were honestly upset over the fact that they were done picking up and putting away all the pieces to their game.

I tried to remind them that they had several other toys on the floor that could stand to be put away...apparently, this type of mourning is reserved for Candy Land, though.

How to direct that enthusiasm to all aspects of keeping their toys put away...