Sisterly Love

I've heard that children don't have the ability to show empathy until around age 5. With all the fighting and bickering between the girls, that day won't come fast enough. That was, until yesterday. After all the waiting, RD wore her heart on her sleeve.

I always take the girls down to the basement while doing laundry. They have set limits where they can play. Obviously, like most kids, they break the limits. They say it only takes a split second for something to happen and I believe it, because that's all it took for Gala to go from a very happy camper to a crying mess.

At first, I thought RD had just dished out another one of her "fair punishments". She takes the role of "parent" whenever she sees fit and Gala has taken on the role of "victim" quite nicely. It's goes like this: Gala does something RD deems "bad" and then punishes Gala, by either yelling or hitting. Gala then lets out a blood curdling scream and starts in with sobbing words I can't make out.

So here I am in this situation for the millionth time of the day. I do my usual "What's going on?" routine. But instead RD is freaked out. She can barely say anything so I know it's bad. I get over to Gala and see her finger is bleeding. WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?

I rush up the stairs with Gala screaming, "It's bleeding!" and RD bawling her butt off. I'm pretty sure at this point Gala has lost part of her finger. I plop her down on the counter and starting running water over her finger so I can see the damage. It's a small cut. GEEZ!

Calmly, I try to reassure Gala she'll be fine but RD is still losing it. She's screaming and crying "Gala!! Gala! your finger! oh you're bleeding! It's cut off! You're BLEEDING!"

RD was not helping the situation. Luckily Daddy was home and I could send RD on a mission to get Daddy. Bless his poor heart. He thought someone was dying too. It was not my intention to frighten him but to get RD away from Gala. And once Daddy came in and seen all was fine, he took on the daunting task of calming RD. She was a mess. I swear you'd have thought she was the one who got hurt. It was nice though, to see her actually worried about her sister. Just one more "badge" to add to her milestones reached.