Communal Property

Alex is having a hard time understanding what belongs to him versus what belongs to other people and the social constructs surrounding such thoughts. Or maybe it's not that he doesn't understand, but rather he just doesn't care.

Most recent example. Both kids were given cups of water this morning. Each child was shown which cup was theirs and told to only drink out of their own cup. A few minutes ago Alex starts screaming about Zoe drinking water out of a cup. I go over and Alex shows me Kairi's cup and goes "I dink Kai-wee wata and now Zoe dink it! Tell no! Tella Kai-wee wata!" I shooed Zoe away and made sure her water bowl was full (which it was), and then turned back to the cup. Alex was still in tears. I asked why he wasn't drinking his own water and he told me because he was saving it. Of course ... he saves his own water by drinking Kairi's; makes perfect sense. I told him that he needs to drink his own water from now on, not Kairi's. Kairi finally takes notice of the entire situation and starts to freak out that both Alex and Zoe drank out of her cup. I'm on my way to replace the cup, but that's not what she wants, she wants HER cup. See, Kairi has been clear on what belongs to her versus other people since before she was two -- she does not understand why Alex doesn't respect this rule. To Alex, all things belong to all people, even if they have someone else's name attached to them. Unless it's his Cars book or his blanket, then if you touch it you might die a death of burst brains because of his shrill scream. I offer Kairi Alex's cup, since obviously he hasn't touched it and she somehow sees the justification in this. He isn't happy that she's drinking the water he saved, but he also knows better than to scream at her about it -- that never ends well. He walks off muttering about needing water. I finally replaced the water cup that both he and Zoe drank out of and made him promise not to touch Kairi's new cup and to not put it down when Zoe's in the room. And now he's calling both cups Kairi's cups. At this moment I have no idea which cup belongs to which child. I'm going to assume that the one that Kairi shrieks about every time Alex walks near it is Alex's old and therefore Kairi's new cup. But to be honest, I'm not sure as I think that Alex managed to trade off cups while Kairi was going potty.