No, Daniel!

Probably the single most common phrase you’ll hear at my house is courtesy of Rebecca, who is taking her role as “annoyed sister” very seriously.

Oooh, she can be a bossy one these days. She insists that Daddy buckle her seatbelt (“no Mommy do it!”). Only Mommy is allowed to zip her sleep sack. And absolutely no one is allowed to touch her shoes while she attempts to put them on (“Becca do it by self!”).

But Daniel, oh, poor Daniel can do no right by her sometimes. As it is, he’s a bit of a copycat. If he sees her start to play with something, he immediately wants it (and gets very upset that he can’t immediately have it). If she’s playing a game or making some silly noise, he thinks that’s a great idea and joins in.  And this bugs his sister to no end.

Frequently, she insists that he not say something. We’ll be sitting at lunch, and she’ll yell or shriek some nonsense word just to be silly. Daniel will repeat it, and she will lose her mind. “Nooooo Daniel! NOOOOO Daniel!”  And, in true brother fashion, he will smile even bigger and keep doing it.

Even better, sometimes she will preemptively shout at Daniel to not say something.  “No Daniel say Boo!” “NO DANIEL SAY BOO!”  And it’s not an act, she’s really quite pissed off and freaking out about the thing that he has not yet done.

I’ll give you one guess as to what happens next.

Daniel laughs and shouts “BOO!!!” at the top of his lungs.

Why do I get the sense this will be a large portion of their dynamic for the next 15 years or so?