Getting Even, Lana Style

Growing up, I was the only girl (besides my mom) in a household of boys. (Maybe that explains my lack of 'girlyness'?) I got along with all of the boys except one. Myself, and that one brother, all we did was argue and fight. And by fight, I mean physical fighting. My poor mother.

I now have 9 children that live with me, and am being paid back on a daily basis. (although I am not sure my brother is being paid back, and if he isn't, that really isn't fair!) The only difference is that my brother and I were older - it started when I was 12 or so, and we finally began to get along when I was 18 or 19. The kids that are paying me back right now are the little ones. Especially Levi and Lana.

When Levi was a baby, Lana and Levi played together all the time. See I have proof.

When we came back here last year to have Ari, everyone was so sure that Levi was going to be jealous of her, and have major sibling rivalry going on because he was (still is) my baby. But when Ari was born, he didn't give me any problems. From day one he was easy with her, and plays with her, and looks out for her.

It was in Honduras that his issues began. But not with Ari. With Lana. It seems that in those 4 months apart, their love changed to hate, LOL. They both will be sitting quietly on the sofa watching a movie, and then out of nowhere Levi will get up and hit Lana, or try to push her off the couch so he can sit in that spot. One day she was sitting on the floor of the front porch playing, and he came running by, realized he was running by his arch enemy, swerved by her, grabbed her hair, and drug (dragged?) her into the house.

And Lana, who is a tough little girl - she doesn't take crap from any of her older brothers and sisters - she would just take it and cry if it got to much. I would fuss at Levi, he would get in trouble etc. etc. but it didn't make a difference. I told Lana, if he hits you, you have to hit him back. Because that way he will realize that she isnt his personal punching bag, and will leave her alone. But she never would. Then one day I do believe she got fed up. They were in the kitchen fighting, and she pushed him out the back door. Which in and of itself, isnt that big of deal. The big deal is that there is a 2 foot drop or so out the back door to the concrete step because we still haven't done the back porch. And Levi went flying out the back door face first. He landed on his mouth and cracked a tooth.









After making sure he was ok, I had to laugh to myself. Because Lana, in trying to show him she isnt going to take his crap anymore, just made matters worse for herself. Now his tooth is sharp and pointy, and when he bites her, its gonna hurt worse. I had to tell her that I said when he hits her to hit him back, not push him out the back door and try to kill him.

Although being pushed out the back door didn't slow Levi down, he has since learned though that if he is nice to Lana, she will let him tag along with her and Johan when they go and get into things and get into trouble :)

At minute 1:15 you can see how much being pushed out the back door has affected how Levi treats Lana.

*you know when you have kids, you say things that you never imagined you would have to say. I never thought I would say to one of my kids - you know its ok to hit him back IF he hits you, but its not nice to try to kill him.