Sharing and mechanical bulls

So we had to have a lesson on sharing today. Orren has been playing chef a lot, grabbing the toy pots and pans, and stirring them around with the toy mixing spoons and ladles. He loves it. It's his new favorite game. Well, there's this one red ladle that he and Erin both love, and Erin has become kind of a bully over it. Whenever Orren has it, she just comes up and snatches it from him. Of course, as one would expect, he screams and does not understand why mean old sissy took his ladle.

Of course, Erin's take on this is that Orren isn't sharing, and he's already had his turn. Fair enough if you're preschool-age or older, but at 13 months, sharing does not exist. Of course, at 6 1/2, understanding does not much exist, and Erin retaliated to being made to give Orren the ladle back, by throwing his favorite book, Touch and Feel Tractor across the room. She was then sent to her room for five minutes, and then once again, snatched the ladle from Orren, and then totally blew off the explanation I gave her of why that still wasn't ok. (OK, so it wasn't ok 5 minutes ago. Why would it be ok now? You think a timeout is advanced payment on a free pass for bullying your baby brother?) Of course, she replied by saying that she hated sharing, that it was the stupidest thing ever, that she didn't want a baby brother anymore, and of course, that it all would be better if we'd just had a girl baby instead of a nasty stinky stupid boy. Gotta love first grade girl logic.

Anyhow, after keeping her off her brother for about 15 more minutes, they've both forgotten about the ladle, and are now playing happily with Legos, and a radio that is driving me nuts (but I'm letting it slide. Even annoying, crappy, polytonic music, reminiscent of cell phone ringtones from 10 years ago is better than the screaming.)


Now, to balance the bad with the good, here's the funny Erin story of the day:

Erin walks into the living room, and asks me straight out of the blue, "Mommy, have you ever ridden a mechanical bull?"

Well.... I was once young, single, and stationed in Texas. Of course, that meant bars, and bars in Texas mean mechanical bulls. So yeah, I've ridden a mechanical bull probably close to 100 times. I freaking love me some mechanical bull!!

I looked at Erin kind of like she was crazy, and said, "Yes, I've ridden a mechanical bull before. Why?"

To which she replied, eyes wide with admiration, "Mommy, that's so cool. I can't believe you rode a mechanical bull!"

I wanted to ask her how she knew what a mechanical bull was, but honestly, I was just kind of liking the fact that she wasn't talking back or having an attitude, so I left it alone. My kid thinks I'm cool because I have ridden a mechanical bull. Unconventional, yes... but I'll take it!