Pink Chair and the Introduction of "Backsies"

Sometimes, I regret a move I make as soon as I make it, but once the cat is out of the bag, there's nothing I can do to put it back in. And so it is with some recent decisions I made.

#1. Some months ago, I purchased a cute little blue couch for the kids to share. I set it up in Helen's illegal daycare, where she is required to spend hours upon hours each day tending to at least a dozen babies. Feeding them, burping them, taking them on walks in the stroller, changing their diapers, requesting my assistance in changing their clothes, and, you know, ignoring them. Just like what I imagine happens in all illegal daycares. I thought the introduction of a couch was an awesome addition so that rather than running herself ragged all day, Helen could just grab a cigarette, light up, and do a crossword puzzle while all the babies sat there ignored by her. It was a perfect plan, except Connor loved the blue couch. He loved it so much, in fact, that I put it on wheels so he could fly it around the house all day as he traveled from city to city in his new airplane.

I'll give you a moment to imagine the bickering induced by this couch.

OK, now go get an aspirin to calm that headache.

#2. I purchased a SECOND child sized chair - this time, a pink chair. The idea was that now that we had TWO child-sized pieces of upholstered furniture, each child could have one. The couch was superior for it's size, the chair was superior for it's alluring color.

It totally worked for exactly one morning when Connor ran out to the couch, sat on it and claimed it as his own and Helen ran to the pink chair, exclaimed how beautiful and perfect it was. Which made Connor decide he wanted it. Seriously.

And so...for the next several weeks, whenever Helen would come downstairs in the morning, she would instantly plant her little bottom in the pink chair, and Connor would complain about how unfair life was. How Helen always got to have the pink chair. On the off-chance that he go to the pink chair first, he would lounge around in it possessively, and occasionally I would notice that he needed to do something important - like go to the bathroom - and he would avoid doing so, lest Helen plop her rear end in the chair. Which leads me to #3.

#3. I taught the children about "backsies". In case you didn't grow up in my house and are not familiar with this, it's the practice of leaving a location, calling "backsies", thus reserving the location for future use. It could apply to a piece of furniture, a record, a television show - you name it.

And then, the worst thing of all, Ed piped up with "no backsies".

AUGH! Are you kidding me?

It was bad when the kids were scrambling for one chair and then arguing about it. It was worse when there were two chairs to argue about. And then it got even worse when "backsies" was introduced. But now?!? They can argue about the chair AND whether or not "backsies" can be implemented.

Elaine