Mine!

When I start cooking dinner in the evenings, Eva likes to go out to her playhouse and pretend she’s making dinner, too.  “Careful, Amanda!” she cautions, “Very hot!”, as she balances a plastic mound of peas on a toy spatula, and carefully deposits it into the mail slot.  But lately, Eva has decided that the playhouse is hers, and gets territorial when Amanda tries to join in.  “No, Amanda, MINE!” has become a frequent refrain.  “Mine isn’t in your vocabulary”, Dave tells her.  Too late!  It’s amazing the power of one little word.  You shout it out, and all of a sudden you’ve established ownership, territory, a line in the sand: “MINE!”  It’s a behavior that we don’t tolerate, so lately Eva has spent her fair share of time in the time-out chair, and frequently lost toys that she refuses to share.  She has a few toys and activities that aren’t safe for babies, so I try to bring those out for her whenever Amanda is asleep.  She enjoys having a few special toys that only she can play with, though she doesn’t like putting them away when Amanda wakes up.