The First of Many

This morning, all I wanted was 10 minutes to fold a load of laundry and get myself dressed . . . but Meg and Kate were in rare form. Ten minutes was just too much to ask.

Kate succeeded in pulling the googly eyes off of some decorative bunnies that Meg and I had made to add to our kitchen Easter decor. After only moments left unattended, I found Kate and the eye-less bunnies on the kitchen table . . . and Kate looked up at me and said, "M&Ms".

Gasp. Yes, I think she ate some googly eyes . . . at least one. There are a couple unaccounted for after I searched a nearby Easter basket and recovered a few. Oh well. I guess we will see if they reappear sometime in the next day or so. (In one way or another.)

Anyway . . . by 9:30am, I really needed to get my act together. I started out by trying to get the girls interested in something in our living room area -- with the hopes that I could leave them for a short time and take care of my 'to dos'. But after setting up an activity and trying for a few minutes, it was clear that Kate wanted Meg's markers . . . Meg was not willing to share . . . it was totally not going to work.

On second thought, I'll just take Kate upstairs with me . . . I thought to myself.

I left Meg to her markers, and Kate and I climbed the stairs. I started to unload the dryer.

Within a minute, Meg was at the top of the stairs, too. Kate was by then interested in some really old, mostly deflated balloon . . . which, naturally, Meg had to snatch from her and throw down the staircase.

I snapped at Meg when I heard Kate crying, "Downstairs!" . . . and when I really realized what big sister had done, immediately I sent her to time out.

With Meg in timeout and Kate back to her balloon (which meant another trip down and up the stairs), I once again attempted to get my laundry under control. A feeble attempt. Kate was all up in Meg's face as Meg sat in time out . . . and Meg was screaming something about, "Mommy! Kate won't leave me alone!"

I snapped again. This time at both of them. Then I had a thought.

Duh, braniac. Just separate them.

I released Meg from time out and told her firmly to return to the living room and find something -- anything -- to keep herself busy. I swept Kate up and plopped her down on my bed, with Curious George on the TV to keep her entertained.

And finally, about 10 minutes after my original attempt, I was able to fold my clothing and put on a clean outfit for my day.

Why is this so significant to me? It was the first time I've ever had to consciously separate the girls. They are old enough now to really get at each other -- drive each other nuts, honestly -- they are starting to really act like sisters. Looks like I have entered some new territory in parenting . . . a territory that is a little scary for me, as an only child.

And it worked. Separating them, I mean. The first time, and it worked. Looks like I've found a tactic that I might use more often.

So, today was the first time I separated the girls . . . the first of many, I think. Welcome to sibling rivalry, Mrs. Dahlby.