Addition

As I sit here this morning trying to drink one cup of coffee the children sit nicely at the kitchen table eating their breakfast. Ha, wake up! The morning started off so well with giggles and tickles and playing games, then I had to get them going. Now I sit here listening while the girl tries to teach the boy addition. He's doing so great with anything he can add on his fingers but no she can't stick to that. I hear, "what's 300+300?" and a frustrated little boy yells, "I don't know the hard ones yet sister!" He's so desperate for her to play and talk with him that he puts up with it as long as he can. She wants to prove how smart she is, "mom it's easy, if 3+3=6 then 300+300=600, it's easy see!" The boy looks down with a sad look on his face. The girl crosses her arms and refuses to do the "easy" math with her brother.

It's frustrating to know that they get along so well when I'm not around. I love to watch them from a window as they play so nicely outside just the two of them, or to listen in as they play a game in the basement or in another room just the two of them. As soon as they hear my voice or see me it's all out the window. The bickering begins and gets worse the more I'm around. I guess I'm leading them in the right direction if they get along with out me around, right? They just test the boundaries with me and make sure I"m going to stick with what I say. You'd think they'd know that by now, I win.