Wednesday, January 6, 2010

And it backfired

Katie and I had an encounter today that left me laughing and kissing my sweet girl. Monday night Katie took a whole slew of toys to play with Grandma Bubbles and Grandma and Grandpa Wilson while they were visiting. Tuesday I picked them all up and put them outside Katie's bedroom door for her to put away. Today they were still there, more or less, having been scattered slightly by Mister Max. It was almost nap time, so I should have known better, but getting fed up, I asked Katie nicely to pick up her toys and put them away.

Katie, throwing herself down on the floor: Nooooooo . . . it's too hard! I need help!
Me: I did help you, honey. I picked them up from the living room and put them right here, so all you'd have to do is take them into your room.
Katie: I wanted to carry them from the living room! You did the part I wanted to do!
Me, losing patience quickly: You wanted to carry them all the way across the house?!
Katie: Yes!
Me: You got it sister . . .

Then I picked up all the toys (it took me two trips) and carried them back to the living room, tossing them all across the room. We're talking about a hundred Littlest Petshop Pets, My Little Ponies, and itty-bitty accessories, plus the Petshop Clubhouse, and Ponyville Ferris wheel, roller coaster, and ice cream shop. Katie then bounced up, suddenly full of energy, and called out, "Thank you, Mom!"

Still fuming, expecting more whining, I looked into the family room only to see her busily bustling around, cleaning up. "I didn't mean for them to be all over the room, I thought you'd just bring in the baskets, but this is still easy!" she said as she picked the zillion toys up and relayed them to her room.

Then, she said, "I'm going to help you now, since you helped me!" And she picked up 2 weeks worth of newspapers scattered daily over one corner of the living room by Max. "Now it will be so much easier to vacuum!"

Much humbler, and laughing at my silly, sweet girl, I gave her a big hug and a kiss. So much for teaching her a lesson!

6 comments:

bladenfamily said...

What a sweet girl!

LeAnn said...

That is such a great story! It gives me hope for my own fall 2005 baby. He actually helped today by picking up all of Kirsten's play food and putting it in the basket. He said he was making soup.

Mama D said...

That's the kind of "manipulation" I like! If my youngest would do this, I'd pray for backfired lessons every day!

Becky said...

Crazy kids! I definitely do not understand that logic! Crazy! That's really all I can say...bah!

Kurt and Shelli Barnum said...

Isn't it amazing what they teach us!? How great! What a sweet heart!

Janea said...

So funny....happened to me, too! The kids' grandparents had dropped some stuff by while I was at work. I asked the kids to help bring it in. Melt down! Kylie wanted the box that Tristan had brought in. So, Tristan had to take the box back outside so she could bring it in. No more tears. Ahhhh...the stages of a GIRL!