She's a little runaway

 

 

Isn't he cute? This was taken right before he started marching through the house chanting "mama is a poo poo!" Then after about five minutes of that he said "mama, can you guess what I'm saying right now?" And I was like "um, that mama is a poo poo?" And he said "you just said mama is a poo poo!" It was hilarious. Then Emma Mae looked at me and said "you are not a poo poo mom. you are just a mom and a human." And my self esteem was re-established.

Then the kids took a bath. And when they got out and got their pj's on I told Emma Mae that she needed to pick up all of her toys that were strewn about the house before she could do anything else with her evening. She did not like that one bit. Even though that is our nightly routine around here. She's used to it. But tonight it was just too hard! The toys were too big! Her hands couldn't carry things! And then her legs gave out so all she could do was slide around on the floor.

I knew she was tired so I told her that if she really had no use of her body then she should just go get in bed and I would pick up her toys for her. That caused another melt down because she was afraid I would pick up her toys and take them to the nearest trash can. So then she refused to go to her room which to me is like drawing a line in the sand. Emma sometimes needs to have her will broken. Or else I'm afraid we might end up seeing her someday on an episode of "girls gone wild." To me this was an obedience issue. First, she didn't obey when I told her to pick up her toys. Then she didn't obey again when she refused to go to her room to get in bed. Not obeying is an issue of the heart which I can't ignore.

So began the battle of the wills 2013. I carried little miss to her room and put her in bed with instructions not to get out until morning. She immediately jumped out of the bed and ran out in the hallway screaming that she didn't like me anymore. Shocker! Then she told me that I was not her mommy anymore. That kind of hurt. Then she told me that she was going to find a new home to live in. Really? Then she said that yes, she was going to run away to a different home! That's what she would do. So I remembered a story my sister tells about my niece trying to run away from home at age 4 and I  said "okay." Then she just looked at me. Then she said "mama! I am going to go run away to a different home. and live there forever!" So I said "okay, go ahead and go." Then she said "well how am I supposed to get to another home!?" So I said "I don't know Emma. You're the one running away. You need to work out the details." Then she said "well, if I go away from here you will not survive!" So I tried not to laugh. Then she said it again. "mama! do you hear me? if I leave here you will not survive without me!"

Then we had a stare down in the hallway. I think I heard the theme song from Gun Smoke somewhere in the background. And after a few minutes she said to me "mama! i want your job. I just want to do your job." So I said "baby, I'm the mama, you don't have to be in charge yet." Trust me. I was the youngest kid in our family. I got bossed around all over the place. I've waited a long time to be the one in charge and I'm not about to let a three and a half year old steal my thunder now. So then she came and sat in my lap and calmed down enough for me to put her in bed. Then Jake came and sat in my lap and told me how sorry he was for "being bad" today. So I kissed him and told him that he was a poo poo.