Wild Child Viva

This morning the threesome decided to play with their swords. Usually Viva gives sword play a pass, but today she opted to join her brothers. They ran through the house swiping at each other. Everything was going well until I heard Bentley shrieking at the top of his lungs and Viva crying. I ran in to the living room expecting to see blood—to find a real disaster in progress.

Viva was crying because Bentley had pushed her, hard. She landed on the floor, but wasn’t seriously hurt. Bentley pushed her and was shrieking because Viva had attacked the nativity set on the coffee table. Four of the figures were laid out on the floor. (The set is wooden—or it wouldn’t be placed within toddler reach!) Bentley was traumatized by the wanton act of desecration his sister had inflicted on the Nativity Set. What was she thinking?!

I asked Viva if she had hit the nativity set with her sword. (The house rule is that swords are only to be used to hit other swords, not people or random objects.) Viva replied that no, she hadn’t hit the nativity set. I asked why the figures were on the floor. “They’re dead.” I can see we need to reinforce the Christmas Story. Viva is obviously bringing in a few elements from Disney's Sleeping Beauty. (Viva’s favorite part of that story is when the princess is warned that if she pricks her finger on a spinning wheel she will die. "And die!" she shouts whenever the story is read.)