The Adventures of Spiderman and the Princess: Internal Logic vs. Emotional Attachment

   My daughter, the Princess, is going through a blanket stage. I know that this is not unusual in a two-year-old, but it is new to me. My eldest son, Spiderman, is attached to a particular quilt, but only at bedtime. Princess, however, has taken to dragging her polka-dotted blankie Linus-style (i.e. everywhere).
   Unfortunately for the Princess, her brother has a finely tuned sense of internal logic. Things go where they go, and stay where they ought. This is so important to Spiderman that he routinely helps Princess to clean her room and put away her toys, even when she has grown wise enough to stand solemnly and watch him do the work for her. "See?" he says happily, "We are cleaning up!"
   "Yes," I answer, "You are." Then Princess rolls her eyes at me and puts one toy away.
   This modus operandi has worked well enough for Spiderman's four and a half years of life, so I haven't discouraged him. A healthy sense of logic can be useful -
     - that is, until one's baby sister starts dragging a blanket about in a fit of pure madness.

    I found them standing in the music room, caterwauling.
    "MYYYY! MYYYY!" Princess shrieked, hanging onto her fuzzy green blanket.
    "NOOO!" Spiderman cried, pulling the other end in a desperate tug of war. "IT'S A BLANKET! IT GOES ON YOUR BED!"
    "MINE!" Princess bawled. "LEGGO-A-MY!"
    "LET ME HELP YOU!" Spiderman wept.
    "STOP YELLING!" I yelled.

    I managed to separate them into two separate heaps of sobbing.
    "My!" Princess said.
    "You have your blanket," I said, "Stop crying."
     She sniffled in a beautifully pitiful fashion.
    "What are you doing?" I demanded of Spiderman.
    "I-was-helping-the-blanket-on-her-bed!" he stammered.
    "Well, she wants to carry it around," I said. "She has the right to misuse her own blanket."
    Spiderman began to cry again.
    "I appreciate that you were trying to help," I explained, "but girls react badly when you assault them and rip away their emotional attachments. You need to know this."
    "MY!" Princess stated and cried harder than her brother on principle.
    "Who wants to watch Curious George?" I asked brightly.

    Four minutes later, they were cuddled gleefully together while the Man in the Yellow Hat left his monkey unattended yet again. Irony loves parenting, for I was begged to bring the big fuzzy blue blanket at once. Then both Spiderman and the Princess insisted on my spreading it across the couch so they might share it.

   This week, I'm going to teach my daughter to clean up after herself. Wish me luck.