Sisters

Just when I thought I've seen every fight the girls could have, they surprise me. As I've written before, Lily has mastered the art of driving Ella insane. She can tell when Ella's on the edge, and she knows how to give her just the right push.

One of her favorite things to do it start whistling. Lily figured out how to whistle on her own, but Ella hasn't yet. This makes Ella so angry. When Lily started whistling, Ella came to me in tears and said, "I don't understand why you would teach Lily to whistle but not me." I pointed out to Ella that I can't whistle as well as Lily can, so there was no way she learned it from me. So there are time when Ella's upset about something, and Lily will just sit there and whistle a little song. Ella will start yelling about how Lily it teasing her by showing off. I ignore it most of the time.

The other night Lily came up with a new way of bugging Ella. We had ravioli with spinach in the sauce for dinner. Ella put a fleck of spinach on her tongue and declared it icky. Lily, on the other hand, gobbled it down. So Brandon and I told her she was like Popeye. Ella protested that even though Lily had eaten spinach, she still wouldn't be stronger, and then she showed off all sorts of strong things she could do. Lily didn't say anything at this point. But then she struck at bedtime. The girls were in brushing their teeth, and Lily started singing

I'm Lily the sailorgirl
I'm Lily the sailorgirl
I'm strong to the finish
'Cause I ate my spinach
I'm Lily the sailorgirl

over and over again, mostly because Ella flipped out when she did it. Brandon and I heard screams from Ella, then she came running out to tell us that Lily was teasing her for not eating spinach.

We were stunned that a. Lily came up with the song, and b. that it bugged Ella so much. Who would have thought there would be sibling rivalry over who ate spinach and who didn't.