My cousin Amber joined us for an all-too-brief visit this weekend. We spent part of Saturday evening talking about our kids, and she mentioned the truism that you can really tell your kids’ personalities when they’re very young.
That’s what we’re afraid of!
> > _Patrick, roaring. Of course._ > >
Of course, we love Patrick to death. He’s spunky and smart and has a great sense of humor (even at not-yet-three). But man-oh-man! If there ever was a kid who was looking to see just exactly what he could get away with, it’s Patrick. He doesn’t just do the boring boundary two-year-old boundary pushing of declaring “No!” Instead, he’s sneaky about it.
A typical example from this morning: We’re talking about what to have for breakfast, and Patrick somehow produces the last package of Annie’s Bunny Fruit Snacks from our pantry. “No,” I tell him. “You can’t have fruit snacks for breakfast.” I take them and put them up on the counter.
Later that morning, Patrick’s inconsolably sad because Molly’s washing his favorite blue blanket. We spend 20 minutes trying to convince him that he’s going to get his blanket back soon, to no avail. Finally, desperate, I whisper in his ear: “Patrick, you’ll get your blanket back soon. While you wait, do you want some fruit snacks?” He immediately stops crying and nods his head. I carry him over to the counter where I’d put the fruit snacks, and they aren’t there. I start looking around, and Patrick tells me, “Behind the chair!”
I go to the living room chair. Patrick frequently hides behind there, and now he often takes things there that he knows he’s not supposed to have. Sure enough, behind the chair, there’s the last package of Annie’s Fruit Snacks splayed open and a small hutch of gummy bunnies abandoned on the hardwood floor. We’re learning not to let Patrick out of our sights for very long, yet somehow this morning he found the time to swipe the fruit snacks from the counter, take them behind the chair, open the package, and eat one or two before we started looking for him.
Like I said, sneaky, spunky, and smart. We’re going to have our work cut out for us.