Possessiveness Gone Crazy

Okay, so I know that every toddler goes through a possessive stage. I guess it's part of claiming their little space in the world and vying for independence. However, I don't really remember my boys having such moments of insane possessiveness that I am seeing in Kaitlyn these days. Perhaps the more siblings you have, the more possessive you are forced to become? Or, is it just her little personality? I do remember Cotter's amazing first words at 9 months..."no" and "mine." But, he has had a fairly giving heart for the most part. And then there's Kaitlyn...

Here are a few examples of her masterful possessiveness:

1. If she is feeling rather possessive, and you are carrying on a conversation with her, she will high-jack a word from your mouth and call it her own. Like, at breakfast this morning, Aidan, doing an obligatory 8-year-old act, opens his mouth with food and says "AAAGH." So, Kaitlyn replies, "No, MY aagh." Or if a brother mimics her in saying something, like "I want juice," after he says it, she will yell back, "No MY I want juice."

2. If Kaitlyn and I are in the car and I play one of her little cassette tapes with songs, she WILL NOT let me sing along. If I start singing, she will say very loudly, "NOOOO.... MY sing." (Of course, she doesn't really actually sing along either.) So, sometimes my rebellious side comes out and I sing along anyway, louder than her yelling, just to not let her get away with treating me that way. Or, I'll just turn off the tape.

3. I'll admit, she is also strongly possessive on behalf of other people. If she thinks a certain cereal, for instance, is Daddy's, she will refuse to eat that cereal or let anyone else eat it. I could offer her a favorite menu item, but if it's something she thinks belongs to her brother, she'll refuse it. Same goes for sitting at a certain place on the couch. For our morning devotion time, we all have spots on the couch and surrounding chairs, and Cotter better not sit in Daddy's spot, or Kaitlyn will personally push and shove him to his proper position!

4. We were talking at the dinner table the other day about something that happened when Cotter was Kaitlyn's age. So, Kaitlyn starts saying, "MY age. I want some age. I want some age, PLLEEAASSE!"

5. Probably my favorite was when Kaitlyn was waking up yesterday morning. In general, if she wakes up before 7:00, we just let her jabber in bed until 7:00, mostly because we can't really deal with her until we've at least begun sipping our cup of coffee. While she's waiting in bed, she will yell out periodically, "Mommy, can I get up? MOOOMMYYYY, can I get up?" And, "I want apple juice!" And occasionally, she'll throw in a Daddy command if she thinks Mommy is ignoring her, just in case that's the magic ticket. Well, yesterday morning, in the midst of her barking out of questions and comments from her nocturnal command post, she hears the scraping of a kitchen chair being pulled out of the table by Aidan. So, she yells out from across the house (and behind a closed door), "NO, MY chair!!"