If they don't kill each other. . .

then I'm killing them. Ok, not really, but fellow parents out there know the feeling!

Sibling rivalry has taken on a new meaning in our house. Now that the youngest is old enough to join the fray, things have accelerated exponentially. It was never this bad with oldest and middle. Sure, they had/have their share of WWF moments, but it was always something logical. Over a toy, stepping on toes, the normal sort of thing. With middle and youngest it's unreal. It's like she is offended by his very existence. "He's touching me!" "He's looking at me!" Accompanied by her asserting her dominance by slapping or biting him. He fights back as well as he can, but he's still smaller than her, at the moment. We know one day he won't be, and when that day comes, she's in trouble. Payback is heck.

She also has this paranoia that he is always out to take whatever it is she has. He can take one step from the kitchen to the living room and she will run by screaming, "He's after my ponies!", shoving him down on her way by. Meanwhile, like most males dealing with an irrational female, he has no idea what is going on.

It's definitely a love/hate relationship. I have seen her be big sisterly towards him, when she thinks no one is looking. It;s like her dirty little secret that she might actually feel something towards this alien intruder who stole her place as baby of the family. At least he didn't steal her princess role. That would have meant certain death.

I've heard that siblings that fight like cats and dogs are very close as adults. That's the hope I cling to. That is, if they survive to adulthood.