Stop!

Recently I've found myself the referee in a sort of squabble that I find so amusing it's difficult to actually bring about a peaceable solution. Bella will be singing and Sophie will tell her to stop. Whereupon Bella bursts into tears and comes running, complaining that "Sophie won't let me sing!!!"

I try to reason with her to no avail. Why don't you just ignore her? She can't really do anything to make you stop singing. She has no authority over you? But of course reason doesn't work with a three year-old.

So once I stop laughing, I try to get Sophie to stop saying 'stop.' Which is almost as futile as reasoning with Bella.

The upshot: I'll probably be dealing with this until one or the other grows out of it.

It's still funny now-- except when Ben is sleeping or my nerves are frayed. But each iteration brings me a bit closer to the point where I'm going to start banging my head against the wall in frustration.