Sibling cooperation

When all four of us are in the car together, Cady Gray demands to talk to me and Archer responds by claiming Noel for his conversation partner. This often leads to frustratingly circular conversations ("Hey Mo-om!" "Yes, sweetie?" ".... You need to talk to me."). A lot of our parental time is spent sorting out who's talking to whom about what, and making sure fights don't break out over perceived conversational slights.

This afternoon Cady Gray had a library book in the back seat that was a little above her reading level. She asked Archer to read the first page, and he obliged. But then he didn't want to play along for the whole book:

Cady Gray: Archer, you need to read this page to me.
Archer: You can read it. You're smart!

Quite a bit more pleasant, as rejections go, than his usual "Leave me alone!" or "Don't bother me!" Yes, we've reached the stage of sibling resentment. And yet they can spend hours playing together -- or at least the Archer version, which consists of him briefly entering her reality whenever she approaches him with some personal game in mind. "Here you go!" she'll announce brightly, giving him a slice of wooden apple. He'll respond by momentarily breaking off whatever private running-around-humming-and-signing-numbers activity he was absorbed in. "Oh-kay. Mmmm!" he'll say enthusiastically, before returning to his personal obsessions.