the ultimate fight sister club

She looks as sweet as pie, doesn't she? Ella is my sensitive, creative, introspective child. As the oldest, she tends to take control of situations and likes to do things her own way. She loves Britten dearly, and in recent months, they've become incredibly close, never wanting to do anything or go anywhere without each other. It's really sweet. But like any sibling relationship, they fight. Not just your average fight, where one may kick, hit or pull the other's hair. They have taken sibling rivalry to whole new level. It usually involves toys getting thrown across the room and screams so loud the windows rattle (believe me, I'm not exaggerating). It's not as though I sit on the sidelines and let them have it out. I do my fair share of intervening, doing my best to teach them how to play nicely together. But there are times, like yesterday, where I'm not able to prevent a fight from escalating into a volcanic eruption. I was upstairs, taking care of Chloe, when I heard the scream. As parents, you know that your children have a variety of unique screams; the happy scream, the mad "don't take my toy away" scream, the "I want to annoy you" scream, and the "I'm really, really hurt" scream. Well, this was the "I'm really, really hurt" scream, and it was coming from Britten. I rushed down the stairs to find her laid out on the floor holding her nose. Ella was standing by, looking incredibly guilty. Within seconds, the bridge of Britten's nose looked like this...

and this...

Apparently, what I gathered between sobs, Britten had been trying to take a ball away from Ella while Ella was playing with "the ball toy" (a big plastic toy that shoots balls out of it). Ella didn't appreciate the fact that Britten took her ball so she decided to pick up the "ball toy" and throw it at Britten, hitting her smack between the eyes. Ouch! So much for diplomacy! Of course, Ella knows better (hence the extreme guilt she had written all over her face) and I dealt with it her accordingly.

Moments after the assault, they ran off playing together, as if nothing ever happened. Funny how siblings are. Later, I overheard Britten say to Ella, "You're a nice big sister, Ella." And she really is.