Soapbox

So I’ve got this kid… and she’s about to turn two, God help us.

Oh, she’s an amazing, sweet and affectionate child, and as beautiful as the day is long.  She’s also about as flexible as a steel I beam. I thought my first child had been willful and obstinate at age two, but now I see how easy he was to get along with.
"No!" and "Mine!" are her favorite words, and when she doesn’t get just exactly what she wants, she does a nifty little angry dance, complete with flailing arms and stomping feet that would do a flamenco dancer proud. What keeps her alive after pulling one of these in public is that she is also charming and smart. And boy, she’s into everything!

While I’m cleaning up the jug of cat litter she poured onto the carpet, she runs upstairs and draws all over her stomach with my make-up, or empties a jug of sun tea into the dog’s water dish. Unlike her brother, I really can’t trust her anytime things get too quiet around here.
She is thrilled about her upcoming birthday, and says she wants "gaboons and ahkweem". (ice cream) We’re getting her some plastic food, because she loves to play kitchen with whatever is handy.

This morning she was playing waitress for her father. Since she doesn’t have her play food yet, she solemly handed him a bowl full of legos and told him it was his chicken. Another pile of legos was a cup of juice. Then she handed him a third bowl.

"Oh thank-you Katie," he said. "And what’s in here?" She looked at him like he was crazy and said,
"They’re LEGOS, Daddy."
Get a clue, will ya!