"Mine"

Anyone that has watched "Finding Nemo" knows how annoying that word can be.  Remember the birds and the incessant repetition of "mine?"  Having multiple children who battle over everything, I hear that a lot.

As most of you reading this knows, I am the oldest of four.  We had many sibling rivalries growing up.  We fought over toys, seats at the table, seats in the car, chores, and who was taller.  Well, Mike, Jon, and I still argue over that and two of us are in our thirties.

My girls are already at it.  Cooper and Hannah argued over which bunk was theirs.  They argue over which one of them will play the guitar and which will sing into the microphone as they sing "Phineas and Ferb in the back yard beach."  They fight over who takes a bath first.  Neither of them wants to go first.  I have never met two children who want to stay dirty more than my own.  Odd, especially because they are girls. 

Anyway, Cooper and Riley are now getting after it.  Cooper is protective of her territory, like most of us are.  Cooper however, is ready to repel borders to stop the attack of her sister toddling into her room.  Well, you would think it is that serious anyway.

Riley walks around the house much like an orangutan with her arms up for balance, looking for something to do.  She wanders around looking for something that does not belong to her and insists she must have it.  Cooper knows this yet still leaves her bedroom door ajar, which provides a great opening for my little thief.  Cooper leaves her stuff around the living room that leads to her room like a trail of breadcrumbs that Riley cannot help but follow.

So, Riley is drawn to the open door and enters.  Cooper, believing her sister has just declared war on her room, rushes to stop the insurgency.  All I hear is bare feet pounding on the wood flooring and this:  "Moooooommmmmmmmmmyyyyyyyyyy, Riley is in my roooommmm."  Then comes the ear piercing "MINE, MINE."  Not from Riley, but from Cooper.  We rush to investigate and find Riley and Cooper struggling over a Dr. Suess book.  Riley wants to read, and Cooper wants Riley to leave her stuff alone. 

Now comes the part when Cooper changes tactics and returns force by snatching the book away and pushing Riley down.  Riley starts to scream not because she is injured in the Battle of Green Eggs and Ham, but because her potential bounty has been taken from her.  We scream for everyone to stop.  Cooper screams that it is not her fault.  Riley just screams because she cannot speak clearly yet.  It really is funny to see it.

Hannah coming over the summer will definitely complicate matters.  With the three of them, it is hard to tell who will side with who.  Actually the pairings will likely change every day.  Hannah will defend Cooper's territory from Riley on Monday, then Cooper will defend Riley from Hannah on Tuesday,  Wednesday Hannah will aid Cooper in protecting her collection of classic literature that contains such exquisite works as "Good Night Moon."  I could go on.

I have other examples of course.  Cooper and Riley are currently in the middle of a battle over the "silky," which is a blanket Cooper still likes and Riley wants.  As they get older there will be the fight over phones, cars, boys, and, and, and.  I fully expect them to one day be dressed in camo and building bunkers to fight with each other as they declare war on the sister who stole the other one's sweater.  It would be funny though to see a sixteen year old Hannah and a thirteen year old Cooper playing tug-of-war over a clothing item and yelling, "MINE, MINE."  And, their father being who I am, will of course capture it all on video to play at the most embarrassing time possible.

I just hope that they don't work together to raid my closet and force me to tug-of-war one of my shirts.  I may have to just let it go and call myself defeated.  It's not worth it to get into a screaming match with a girl over clothing, and I would look ridiculous screaming, "MINE," right?