I Wanna Be Just Like You

We have mentioned here, surely, that Joe is the absolute apple of Birdie's eye. Reportedly, on picture day, when Joe was escorted to Clara's room to collect the Bird, she was over to him like a rocket. The next day, when Joe passed by her room and pressed his face against the glass before moving along, Birdie burst into torrents of tears because she couldn't go with her big bro. At home, Birdie is fond of trying to get her big brother's attention by snatching whatever he is playing with and tearing off so he will chase her (100% success rate; 50% success rate with real tears from Joe; 50% success rate with fake tears from Joe). If Joe is doing it, Birdie must be doing it and if Birdie is doing it, well, she'd really like Joe to do it, too. (See if you can guess what this week's craze in the morning is.)

This last results in rather a lot of mealtime shenanigans: utensil banging, table top banging (with hands), utensils in and out of the cup, one-handed cup pick-up with hand stretched across the top attempts, placement of yogurt cups in the drinking cup, plate banging, weird noise making, weird face making, and more (with banging, if possible). With respect to the shenanigans, typically one warning is issued, and then one of three things happens:

1. Joe stops, and Clara sallies forth again hoping to engage Joe again and Clara's food, drink, utensils, or all three things are removed, as appropriate and tears ensue. (On such occasions, Joe will sometimes tell Clara something she has been doing is "inappropriate." Oh if only the kettle could tell the pot a thing or two, right?!)

2. Clara stops, and Joe begins again hoping to goad Clara into the fun and Joe's food, drink, utensils, or all three things are removed, as appropriate and wails ensue.

3. They both stop, and then either both begin again or at any rate, a cacophony ensues because both are doing something "inappropriate," and the Powers That Be issue a Royal Edict that Mealtime Is Over, and wails ensue in stereo.

The upside, of course, is that these antics are surely the foundation for the time when Joe and Clara will gang up on us, and though we do not wish to be at their mercy forever, we suspect we may be. In any case, it will not be altogether bad that they are a gang. After all, we do rather hope that they have each others' backs as they get on, and if one day, one of them again needs a spoon to bang, the other will be there with it.