Count to 10 and Breathe

The majority of my days are now spent counting to 10.  You might be asking yourself why I am constantly counting to 10.  While of course I am trying to teach the girls their numbers, it is primarily to try to teach the girls about sharing.  I think I have mentioned before that the girls are at the age now where even if I have 2 of the same thing, they only want the exact one their sister has.  For example, I usually give Zoey a purple cup for water and Kayla a pink cup.  Even if I have them both yellow cups, lately, Zoey would cry for Kayla’s yellow cup and Kayla would cry for Zoey’s.  Maybe now you’re saying to yourself, “Why doesn’t she just switch them?”  And the answer is because that’s not the point so it never works.  Zoey wants what Kayla has and Kayla wants what Zoey has.

So, I came up with a system to try to teach about sharing and taking turns.  When one of the girls is playing with a toy that the other one wants, I say, “Okay, let’s count to 10 and then it will be your sister’s turn.”  Now, I have to say this system is actually working fabulously well and I would like to pat myself on the back for being such an intuitive and wonderful mother!  However, it’s only working very well with Kayla.  Zoey…not so much!  If Kayla is on the rocking horse and Zoey starts whining that she wants to go on, I count to 10, Kayla actually counts with me (which is the cutest thing ever!) and at 10, she hops off without another word!  Zoey then takes her turn on the horse, screaming, “Me, me, me, me” (which is also ridiculously adorable) and we start to count to 10.  However, as soon as I hit “9” Zoey starts saying, “No, no, no, no!”  I usually have to physically pull her of the horse and put Kayla back on.  Now, I can’t complain too much, because if I do redirect Zoey to something else, she usually forgets about the horse for a while.  But, oh my God, this gets exhausting!! 

So, moral of the story is, for all of you who only have 1 child now, just wait until you have a sibling or a cousin or a playdate!  Try to teach sharing and taking turns now!  And if anyone has any other advice for me and my girls, please let me know!!