Messy

Personal neatness is not particularly high on our little 3-year old's list of priorities. Neither, apparently, is submission to parental authority. In ordering K-bao to clean up her room, and not to emerge until it was clean, K-Pop encountered the following ten excuses, diversions, arguments, general extenuations and mitigants, over the course of about 30 minutes.

• "I'm a little bit hungry right now, can I come out and get something to eat?"
• "I very, very, VERY don't like clean up, can I not clean up PLEASE?"
• "But Mommy is not cleaning up"
• "Can YOU help me clean up? Just a little bit?"
• "I have a tummy ache, Daddy, I need to lie down"
• "I don't want to clean up right now, but before I nap I promise, very, VERY promise, to clean up this whole, wide mess!"
• "I'm tired right now, I can't clean up, I need to take a nap"
• "Why aren't YOU cleaning up?"
• "I need to go pee-pee"
• "I'm cleaning up, but I'm too hungry Daddy"

Ah, good ole' Original Sin. There's nothing quite like a toddler to help elucidate theological truths.

K-Pop found himself in the unenviable position of being exasperated while simultaneously admiring his daughter's tenacious creativity in avoiding the task at hand. 

Woe to the one who will have to make this little rebel do homework and obey curfews in the future! O wait.

Intransigent

Being a precocious kid, K-bao has decided to accelerate into the Terrible Two's at only 16 months. Over the last few weeks, her rating on the Mischievousness Scale has spiked into the danger zone. She tests K-Mum at every turn, especially in public spaces, and backs up her demands with lungs of steel. Her previous lovable habit of sleeping through the night has been replaced by a nasty hourly "wake up call" at ungodly decibel levels. And naps? Woe be to the one who tries to put her in her crib.

The problem is that behind all the misbehavior is an iron will. Tonight for example, and as I write this post, she has decided she is not going to lie down. 40 minutes after being put down, she is standing in her crib, so exhausted that she is leaning her face again the crib side, but refusing to buckle. Well, we'll see how long her little legs last her - those stubborn genes came from somewhere, right?