X-Man is sitting next to me, outraged. He’s playing with one of the set of Tonka trucks Santa brought him. Stupid Santa. There are six in the set and each has three different noises, so yeah, that’s eighteen unique noises in the hands of a nineteen month old. He was in Heaven all Christmas.

But now they are nothing but a source of frustration. He has his preferred cars, and which is the unfixable issue, his favorite noises. But they are on a three noise cycle. So he can only hear his favorite noise every three times. He keeps thrusting the offending car, with the offending noise at me. And I’m supposed to fix it. He doesn’t talk yet, but he does imitate the noise that he wants quite well. So through tears and rage, and assisted with a sniffly version of the siren he’s seeking, we struggle through together. He’s disillusioned as I don’t produce it immediately, followed by sheer joy that comes with finding the right sound. And then he rubs his nose on my shoulder, and we repeat the cycle.

Ah the joys of children playing. It’s a hilarious experience.  I remember the first really, truly, insane fight I had to break up between Baby and Baba. It was over an invisible flower. Yes, an invisible flower. And where it was to be placed on the baby doll’s head. So, being the understanding, good mom that I am, I gave each of them their own invisible flower. And left the room feeling satisfied. Only to again hear the shrieking and crying again. Because, each child had place her invisible flower on the exact same location on the baby doll’s head.  I believe this was the first time I exclaimed to my daughters “Are you guys for real?!!?” Not my finest moment after all.

They’ve gotten older, and their fights have too. Although it wasn’t that long ago that Baba came running out of their room yelling “MOM Baby won’t let my fairy come to her wedding!!!” Baby was hot on her heals explaining “She has a fever!!!!”

Adding Mac into the equation didn’t do much to mess with their groove. They would play house, along with Mac, Mac’s children would be his assorted baseball bats and trains. Not that there weren’t fights. Baby and Baba came out together to file a complaint. Mac was refusing to bring his knights to their ball. I commented that I believed that fell within Mac’s rights as a human being to not attend every ball his sisters threw.  Baby was completely baffled “But everybody loves a BALL!”

They keep each other entertained.. The girls build fairy houses; Mac builds a haunted house, complete with an octopus. I blame the grandfather who brought back a stuffed cuttle fish from some aquarium. Sometimes Mac hunts monsters with his gun, but more than once that has deteriorated into Baby, armed with his gun, running away screaming “He’s trying to bite me!” Mac, always helpful, shouting his own clarifications “No, I am going to pinch you!”

X-Man has started trying to keep up. He knows that he ought to be the center of attention. So he plows into the middle of whatever and sits himself down. X-Man is still cute enough that he will most likely be accommodated. Mac is the least likely to accept X-Man’s intrusions. Mostly because X-Man is primarily interested in Mac’s toys.

They play together well. I just hope the neighbors aren’t alarmed by the chalk outlines on the driveway.