Why I shouldn't have to do laundry.....

I turned the corner of the hallway today with a big basket full of laundry, and ran right into a hysterical Payton. I tripped over her and sent the basket flying in a vain attempt to keep it from landing on her head. Well, it wasn't completely in vain, because it only landed on her legs, which were horizontal with the ground, and not on her pretty little head. Small victory. I did however manage to hit the wall behind me, because in my effort to lunge the laundry basket forward, I had to throw my body weight backwards, and my legs were just not prepared for the sudden shift. Other than a bruise on my leg(there is a baby gate resting against the wall I fell into) and clean clothes all over the floor, I am fine, and bruises are nothing new for me, I run into everything. I probably got tied up in the umbilical cord trying to free myself from my mother, you should hear my husband sigh when he hears me or sees me tripping over something. It's like "here she goes again". I will even yell out to him on occasion, "remember I tripped over that shoe when this bruise shows up!". You see, there are often bruises on my shins and sometimes the backs of my arms I can't remember getting, and that bugs him to no end. It doesn't help that I am like one giant banana. But I digress.

Payton was running full speed around that corner to tell on Brooklyn. Apparently Brookie and Payton were having a discussion about birthday cakes and cards. Payton has been all about birthdays lately, talking about hers and what kind of cake she wants(chocolate elephant cake with giraffe decorations) and what color she wants her presents to be(pink and purple and green and orange). She is really very excited to turn 4, she wants to be a big girl so bad, I just know this one is going to break my heart come the first day of Kindergarten! Anyway, it seems Brooklyn started to tell Payton that her birthday was coming up, and not Payton's. Just being mean, Brookie likes to get a reaction out of Payton, and Payton never disappoints! I was in the middle of reassuring the puddle of Payton in my arms that it was going to be her birthday too(still sitting on the floor of the hallway mind you) when Brooklyn comes out of my room and walks right up to us and says, " No Payton, its not your birthday, its mine!" I corrected her, and she just responds with a small "Oh" , but then when I turned to Payton(who was reduced to a pile of tears and gibberish......again) that she shouldn't listen to Brooklyn and yes it was her birthday, they were born on the same day, I look up and catch Brooklyn not saying anything, but shaking her head back and forth very, very dramatically as I was talking!! The child was reinforcing her lie by implying that I was the one doing the lying!! All of this behind my back as I am trying to calm her sister down from the fit she caused. That child is devious, and we are starting to suspect, some kind of maniacal genius, out to control the world.
I got Payton calmed down, and thought I had the incident resolved. I sent them both into the backyard to play, and stopped just around the corner while they were putting on their shoes, in case either one needed some help. Well, Payton needed help all right, but not with her shoes! The minute I was out of sight, Brooklyn leans over Payton's shoulder and whispers, " My birthday, you don't have one". Chalk this one up to Payton though, because she just turned her little head around and screeched right into Brooklyn's stunned face, "IT IS MY BIRTHDAY BE QUIET!!", then she went back to her shoes, and the problem was apparently handled. They went out to play and I haven't heard about birthdays in about two hours. Brooklyn does not handle retaliation well, so hopefully Payton will start to take these matters into her own hands. They don't hit much, but do frequently resort to yelling right up into each others faces simultaneously. You can imagine THAT joyful noise. It's the most fun in the car when I can't get to them, but at least that doesn't happen very often. Lucky for them.

In case I am drawing Brooklyn in a bad light, she is a very obedient, sweet girl to everyone...........everyone but Payton. I think she flexes her mean muscles on Payton simply because she has always been able to, but lately Payton has turned the tide, and more and more we catch her returning some of the favor. They also get along far more often than they fight, but usually their fights are much funnier than their tea parties or their pony villages!