My sweet children have a favorite pastime. They have been doing it since they could talk, it will entertain them for hours, requires no supplies, and doesn't require anything from me. The game? Fighting over nothing. Inventing something to fight over. Fighting for the sake of fighting.

It began in the car as soon as Claire could talk, which was extremely early. I remember her, with two little pigtails sticking out of the top of her head, saying "Goggy (Joshy), I have soup!" And Joshua would say "Can I have some?" And Claire saying "No, all mine!" And Joshy saying "Well, I have pink soup, and you can't have any!" Then Claire would say "Give me pink soup!" And Joshua wouldn't share, so she would suddenly have blue soup, which of course she didn't share, and the game ended with Joshua in tears because Claire wouldn't share blue soup. I ignored this, which bugged Claire, so she would spit (to get my attention), then pull the rubber bands out of her adorable pigtails. Then both of the children would laugh over Claire's naughty defiance, and the tears over the soup would be forgotten.

Here's a picture of baby Claire with the pigtails:

Well, over the past 5 years, the game has evolved into many different variations. The current one involves the kids making up wrong facts about one another, just to irritate. I heard it all the way to Utah: Joshua would say "Claire, your favorite animal is a chicken, and your favorite number is 99!" Then Claire would say "JOSHY! My favorite animal is a sheep, and my favorite number is 6!" Then Joshua laughed, Claire wailed and Jared and I rolled our eyes. Then, in revenge, Claire would rhythmically say "Wa Wa Waaaa." This drove Joshua bonkers, and she got her revenge.

The game started again this morning before church. The kids had been going for a while when Jamesy (sweet Jamesy, corrupted by the shenanigans), said "Claire, your favorite animal is a chicken and your favorite number is 99!" Claire replied "Oh yeah? Your favorite thing in the world is a GLUE STICK!" (it happened to be sitting on the table next to him.) James, very offended, said "NO IT'S NOT! My favorite thing in the world is MOMMY!"

As an afterthought: I saw this picture and had to add it - only at our house can you take a toilet ride through the house!