"Me first!"

Brandt has keenly felt Blythe's presence as a second person demanding my attention since she joined our family. He almost never had to take turns or wait for me to help someone else until she came along.  Naturally, this has led to some competition and to what has become my least favorite saying of the moment: "Me first!"  Brandt, being older and bigger, feels like he should be the first to do just about everything--get in the car, have a drink, be served food, have his diaper changed, get his shoes on.

Blythe, however, is no dummy.  She very quickly recognized that she was playing second fiddle all the time and began to assert herself, chiming in with her own, "Me first."  And because she still can't say everything she wants, "Me first," serves all sorts of purposes, like when she wants something you have or to do something you don't necessarily want her to do.

So, in an effort to curb the constant "Me first"-ing, I recently read the children a Shel Silverstein poem I have always liked called "Ladies First."  I shall share it here.

Pamela Purse yelled, "Ladies first,"
Pushing in front of the ice cream line.
Pamela Purse yelled, "Ladies first,"
Grabbing the ketchup at dinnertime.
Climbing on the morning bus
She'd shove right by all of us
And there'd be a tiff or a fight or a fuss
When Pamela Purse yelled, "Ladies first."

Pamela Purse screamed, "Ladies first,"
When we went off on our jungle trip.
Pamela Purse said her thirst was worse
And guzzled our water, every sip.
And when we got grabbed by that wild savage band,
Who tied us together and made us all stand
In a long line in front of the King of the land--
A cannibal known as Fry-'Em-Up-Dan,
Who sat on his throne in a bib so grand
With a lick on his lips and a fork in his hand,
As he tried to decide who'd be first in the pan--
From the back of the line, in that shrill voice of hers,
Pamela Purse yelled, "Ladies first."

Certainly anyone can see that the lesson I was trying to teach with the reading of this poem was that we should not demand, "Me first."  Unfortunately, the recitation had just the opposite effect.  Blythe will now frequently say, "Ladies first," in place of "Me first," and Brandt will pipe up, "No, boys first."  Yesterday Kent tried, "First the worst; second the same; last the best of all the game," but Brandt just looked at Kent and said, "Nuh-uh."

If it keeps up, it will be me first to the loony bin.