DD is great at sharing things. Her stuffed animal “babies” (of her choosing, of course), her reward candy (for using the potty), and other miscellaneous odds and ends always end up distributed between the family. However, the “family” in DD’s view includes a fifth member…one she calls “Toy.”
It started with the “I love Mommy, she loves me” song. Her verses say, “I love Mommy. I love Daddy. I love Baby (i.e. DS), I love Toy, I love me”. Then it progressed to including Toy in her prayers. “Thank you for Mommy. Thank you for Daddy. Thank you for Baby. Thank you for Toy…”.
Now she must distribute her “goodies” to Toy as well. If she has 3 M&Ms (and assuming DH is working and unavailable for distribution), 1 will go to Mommy. 1 will go to Toy. And she will keep one for herself. And she will actually put the M&M on her play table next to any toy (it doesn’t matter which one), as if she is giving that toy the M&M.
Of course, she uses the infamous Toy for her own benefit too. For example, we have a rule that she can only take 1 “baby” in the car when we go places. But she insists that I have one, that DH has one, and that DS has one. And now she has figured out the Toy needs one too, which, incidentally, gets to sit with her (giving her in effect, two “babies”).
So, when you come by and see that we have an extra place setting, or if you see random goldfish crackers lying around the house, please don’t disturb them. They belong to Toy and he gets very upset if you mess with his stuff!
She isn’t leaving DS out by the way. She knows that he is only allowed to ‘eat’ milk and says so.