Chloe and Ryan's first argument

As Ryan is becoming more proficient at holding his own, fights between the kids are unfortunately becoming more common.  Normally what sets things off is Chloe telling Ryan that he either has to or can't do something.  Ryan does not take orders graciously from Chloe and will not hesitate to lash out at her if she says the wrong thing.  This then results in one of two things.  Either Chloe lashes back at him and I end up having to pull one of them off of the other -OR- Chloe comes whining to me that Ryan hurt her.  Either way, both of the kids end up in tears and then we go into meltdown mode and suddenly I want to give them both up for adoption.



The other day we experienced something new.  The kids had an argument.  It was not physical in any way, but rather a battle of wills.  Definitely a first for these two who normally go down the "sticks and stones may break my bones" avenue.  I'm not even sure what set it off.  All I know is that the kids went from sitting quietly at the table with their coloring books one minute to standing on their chairs yelling at each other the next.  Neil and I were both standing in the kitchen and witnessed the whole thing.  Here are the basics:

Chloe (in a whiny tone): "Ryan, you're mean!"
Ryan (in an authoritative almost dominating tone): "No n'not!  Yo a too too tain ahd!" (translation: "No, I'm not.  You're a choo choo train head!")
Chloe (getting frustrated but still maintaining a more whiny than angry tone): "Stooooooop!  You're not being nice!"
Ryan (same tone): "No n'not!  Yo a too too tain ahd!"

Chloe's come backs varied over the next minute as they kept at it.  She said things like, "I'm NOT a choo choo train head!" followed by, "Ryan, you're a bad brother!" and something about "That's my marker!  Give it back!".  She was growing more and more flustered, and the fact that Ryan's responses to her remained the same only made it worse.  Can you even imagine sweet Ryan yelling at his sister like a drill sergeant?

While Neil and I normally would have put this to an end right off the bat, we were too entertained this time around to want to.  I finally had to leave the room because I couldn't contain my laughter any longer.  Chloe noticed this and saw that both Neil and I were grinning, which I think gave her a boost of confidence because suddenly she stood up on her chair, tone of voice rising twice as high, and started throwing even more ridiculous come backs at Ryan, like...

"You're a petunia!"

Of course we all know what Ryan's response was.  Maybe you had to be there to truly appreciate the humor.  And maybe those of you who aren't catching onto the humor think that we are abusive parents.  But I just have to say that I felt a little proud watching my two children go at it, each being just as determined as the other to have the final word.  Obviously we don't encourage yelling matches in our household, but I hope that in life, when Chloe and Ryan are faced with confrontations about things that do legitimately matter, they will not be afraid to practice the same level of conviction that they demonstrated at the dining room table during their first argument.