Girls

Elina and Anja

Elina manages to squeeze Anja into the toy stroller - a game they both LOVE.
I am not as enthused.

The call of "Niiiiina!" echoes through the house as 20 month old Anja loses sight of her soon-to-be-five year-old sister, Elina. Isak tries bravely to hide his disappointment at not being the favorite sibling. But he just isn't as good at playing with dolls and the play kitchen as Elina is. True, Anja has been known to engage in light saber battles but she would rather put shoes on Barbies or serve elaborate meals at the little table. And then Elina and Anja have every morning until noon to play without Isak while he is at school and before Elina leaves for afternoon pre-K. They play well 75 percent of the time. The other 25 percent of the time consists of screaming, pulling hair, biting and pushing. If Anja has inflicted injuries she is the best about comforting her big sister, non-grudgingly hugging and patting. Not so great the other way around. I sometimes force Elina to retreat to her top bunk (where Anja cannot climb) and play with her itty-bitty pieces and special things undisturbed.

One day while doing dishes in the kitchen I hear Anja crying in their room. I walk in to inspect which doll they are fighting over. Instead I find Elina hugging and kissing Anja to make a boo-boo better. "What happened?" I wondered. "I had some trouble getting Anja down from the top bunk," Elina replies. [Silence while I try to form a reply] "But you did not have any trouble getting her up?" I finally asked. "No, that was easy!"

Sort of like when she took the dog for a walk without telling me and after circling the neighborhood on my bike several times I find her 7 minutes walking distance away. "I told you not to worry about me, mom!" (She did say that before she went outside, presumably into the YARD). "But I did worry about you. I did not know where you were!" "But I am not bugsquashed, I look both ways before crossing the street." Good thing! She crossed about five of them to get to where I found her. "But what if a bad guy comes?" I asked. "Sadie would just kill them!" Hmm. Yeah, I can see the headlines now. "Child perpetrator licked to death by Labrador while trying to get to his 4-yr old victim." No, I actaully have lots of faith in Sadie, our dog, to protect her pack in all sorts of incidences. It's the over-confident 4-yr old I don't trust.