Morning Choke Hold

    On Friday morning I got up and made breakfast.  I sent Ya Ya off on the bus to school after a quick last minute practice for her spelling test.  Mr. Sneaky Pants went up to my office to play with the dollhouse.  I went back to my bed to snuggle Dr. Peds who had been on call and called out for a big chunk of the night.  The Banana and Mr. Sneaky Pants had a little scuffle, and I heard Mr. SP push The Banana down. She came into my room crying.  I called Mr. SP into my room and told him he had to apologize and hug his sister.  Torture.  But he did it, we talked about communicating if you need someone to move over a big, and they went off to play with the dollhouse again.

    I started to read a book.  Then, whining began to fill the air. Louder and louder.  If you know Mr. Sneaky Pants, you know whining is his thing.  Whining is a problem.  We've been working on whining since the beginning of age one.  We don't tolerate whining.  It doesn't get him what he wants.  I ignored the whining.  

    There were cries of "Ouch, Ouch!"  in a whining voice.  If you know Mr. SP, you know that he loves to say ouch.  He yells "Ouch!" when the fingernail clipper is five feet away from him even though I've never hurt him with the fingernail clipper.  I ignored the ouches.  

    Dr. Peds got up.  He got dressed for work.  He brushed his teeth.  On his way downstairs he peeked into the office, where he saw The Banana.  She had Mr. Sneaky Pants in a tight choke hold right next to the dollhouse.  She was saying in her sternest voice, "You will share.  You WILL share!  You WILL share with ME!"  Each time she got to the word "will" she gave him an extra hard squeeze around his neck.  Mr. Sneaky Pants' face was somewhat purple.  Dr. Peds pulled them apart and sent them off to different places.

    For the record, they played great together for the rest of the day, working together to create all sorts of adventures.  That Banana, she can hold her own.  She likes to show people who the boss really is, and when she's established that, everything goes relatively smoothly.