All For One and One For All

  Holy squabbling batman! Last week (yes, I'm a bit behind in my blogging) was spring break so all three kids were home all week. By the end of the week it was . . . well . . . I can't even describe it. Doodlebug had been sick with a bad cold that included a fever the previous weekend and was still working his way back to health. The previous week he'd eaten very little because 'nothing tasted right'. Even when he was complaining about how hungry he was, he wouldn't eat anything! So, needless to say, by the end of the week he was very grumpy and low on energy.

Pair that with Sweet Pea's natural tendency to tease mercilessly, especially when she's bored, and you have a recipe for disaster. One day in particular Doodlebug and Sweet Pea were picking at each other - Sweet Pea would make a comment, Doodlebug would snap back, Sweet Pea would mimic his complaint, Doodlebug would complain louder, Sweet Pea would mimic his complaint, Doodlebug would complain even louder, etc etc etc. After many threats, a few stomping-off temper tantrums and some tears, Snickers unwittingly wandered in. The positive is that Doodlebug and Sweet Pea started to get along. The negative is that they both went after poor little Snickers together. Nothing vicious, nothing physical, nothing too terrible, but just enough commenting from both of them to get him all riled up. And of course then we got into the complaining, mimicing, complaining, whispering, sulking cycle.

It was almost funny. Once they had a target other than each other, they joined forces and went after the new threat. Except Snickers isn't a threat - he's a little sweetie pie who made the terrible mistake of coming in to see what all the activity was about. I'm hoping that if a real enemy had then joined the group that all three would have banded together and went after the threat - 'all for one and one for all' and all that. I can only hope.

Quack!