Slamming Doors

In an act of toddler defiance this morning, Abby started slamming the bathroom cabinet doors. My first response was to ask her to close it softly. I quickly learned that wasn't going to be good enough when she opened the door bigger and slammed it harder, quickly followed by a giggle. So I bribed her with chocolate chips to close it softly two times. Watching her try to get away with almost closing the door softly gave me major flashbacks of my brother when he was a little older than Abby (more like in elementary school). Neil (does that embarrass you, brother?) would get mad, run the long way around the house to his room, and slam the bedroom door. I'm sure his anger had nothing to do with the fact that he was sandwiched between four sisters who may or may not have occasionally teased him. As the females laughed that he once again took the long path to his room, Dad would go to Neil and make him practice closing his door softly ten times. Inevitably, Neil would close the door softly nine times and slam it on the tenth. Dad would then make him start over. My memory may be off, but it seemed like Neil had to practice his door-closing skills for several rounds before finally giving in to complete ten soft closes in a row. Oh, how fun it is to be the big sister!