The War at Home

I have often wondered how I ended up with four daughters. I always thought that I was much more suited to be a boys' mom. But I have adapted, and I think that having girls is fun.
Girls are a whole new world from when I grew up. I have two brothers and played with all the boys on the street and in school. I only had one girlfriend through middle school and high school. I didn't like girls, they were catty and fake and really just got on my nerves. I didn't really have any girlfriends until I was a mom.
I always thought it would have been fun to have a sister. Someone to play dress up with, someone to giggle all hours of the night with, someones clothes and makeup to borrow, someone to cry over boys with, someone like me. Watching my girls, I think it is a blessing that I DID NOT have a sister!
When I was pregnant with Abby, I really wanted her to be a girl. How cool would it be to have two sisters so close in age? How much fun would that be for them growing up. It used to be fun, not so much right now. If anyone has any insight into life with a sister, please let me know, because really this is killing me! With brothers, you have a fist fight and you're done. Back to playing ball or Nintendo, but it's done! In five minutes you're best friends again. Not with sisters. Alli and Abby are at war. They have been for about two weeks now. I don't know what is going on, or how to fix it. But the arguing and the nitpicking and the slapping (yes they are slapping, what a girl thing), has got to stop!
So today, I have been feeling terrible, and they just pushed me over the edge. The punishment: they had to do their sister's pedicure together tonight, they were forced to spend time with each other. Abby was excited, she really wants to get along with Alli and have things in common and have that sisterly relationship. Alli rolled her eyes and gave me attitude, what else is new?
I set them up and left them alone, hoping that some time together, without interruptions from me or the little ones would do them some good, give them a chance to talk and just be girls, and hopefully friends. It started out good enough, there was a glimmer of hope for successful peace negotiations. Of course I did sneak up and do a little eavesdropping (someone else was spying too!) to see if things were working out. They seemed to be for a minute. I heard a conversation about boys (really the last thing I wanted them to talk about, but at least they were talking)! Then I heard splashing and yelling and slapping. Yes, slapping, what a girl thing!
I broke up the not so peaceful soaking of the feet and instructed them to just talk and paint each other's toes. And I eavesdropped again, and heard Alli actually taking an interest in one of Abby's favorite things, Webkins. Then, name calling and frustration over the not so perfect job of toenail painting. I'll leave it up to you to figure out which one had the problem.
So out of a 40 minute process, they maybe had a good 7 minutes. I'm thinking maybe I should be happy with that. Better than nothing, right? But Abby is upset that Alli is mean, and Alli just has attitude and apologizes to me for being mean when I'm not the one who needs the apology.
I guess that 18 months and two grades is a lot further apart than I thought. I can't force them to be friends, but they're stuck together for the rest of their lives. I did force them to pretend that they liked each other for a picture. What a mean mom thing to do!
I know it won't always be this way, there will be good times again. I will hang on to my memories of them as sweet little girls playing dress up and chasing each other down the slide, to get me through this battle right now.
But something has to be done, it's really not fair to the rest of us to have to endure this. So tomorrow, I might handcuff them together for the whole day. That should be fun!!