What's Hers is Hers

Shopping with my girls is often a test of patience and fortitude.  I try to avoid it at all costs but occasionally I need to take them with me.  In those cases, I try to be as efficient as humanly possible.  That was the case this summer when I was on the hunt for an extra bathing suit for my twins.  I found one quickly and within seconds Elie laid vociferous claim on it.  This, of course, upset Jude.  It didn't matter to Jude that we already had one suit at home.  She wanted something too so I let her choose a pair of pajamas. Everyone was happy and these were the first items of clothing my girls could call their own.

Other than the suit and jammies, everything Jude and Elie wear is a hand-me-down from her big sister, family, or friends.  Any gifts they have received have fallen into the matching outfit category and all their collective clothes are stuffed into two built-in dressers in their room.  It's a hodgepodge and a recipe for frequent fights.

So, in a fit of exasperation last week, I took everything out of their drawers and laid it out on the floor. Armed with a Sharpie and a coin to flip, each child got to take turns picking her very own clothes.  Now everything in their dressers is marked with an E or a J and the fighting has been eliminated.  In fact, they are working together and sharing more than I have ever seen.

The other morning, Elie came down wearing Jude's pants and we had this conversation:

Me:  Elie, aren't those Jude's pants?
Elie:  I runned out of pink pants, Mama.
Me:   Did you ask Jude if you could wear them?
Elie:  Yes. She is sharing with me.
Jude:  I said it is okay, Mom.  You know Elie really loves pink.

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