Saturday, July 21, 2001

I believe its Maggie’s turn. Maggie is the child that is most like me. Consequently, at 5 years old, she and I are already butting heads. The most striking resemblance is that she doesn’t always use her intellect in the right ways. To get to the point, once you ask her to do something she has already figured out a few reasons why she cant and a couple of misdirecting questions as backup. This results in her sister getting tired of the argument and doing the task for her. (not completely altruistic on Katie’s part because these squabbles are usually holding up some plans, like the daily trip to the pool.) She hates nothing more than being called out on something that she thinks she’s gotten away with. We have already had our first afternoon that she would not speak to me and I have a strange feeling it won’t be our last. The latest development is her throwing a fit when mommy goes to work. This only seems to happen if I am in ear shot. She got mad the other day during this fit when I told her that it worked the first few times but it had lost its effectiveness. I explained that I actually felt bad but now it makes me smile because I see her practicing her manipulation skills. About a half hour later, after she stomped into her room and slammed the door, Maggie came out and said she was sorry. Then she asked “what is manipulation?” I love everything about this child but I cannot allow her to see just how much her intelligence entertains me. 12:00:00 AM    says you