"Because I said so"

Annie has hit the "why?" stage!

"Annie, eat the rest of your green beans."
     "Why?"

"Annie, it's time for a bath."
     "Why?"

"Annie, don't color on the back of the chair."
     "Why?"

"Annie, don't sit on Riley's head."
     "Why?"

But my favorite are the follow-up why questions.

"Because you'll squish his head."
     "Why?"

How do you answer that?

The mathematical way? "You weigh 30 pounds, he weighs 20 pounds..." This will inevitably be followed by another why question, or worse - "How much do you weigh, mom?"

The ethical way? "It's not kind. Do you want him to sit on your head?" This is a risky question, she might say yes. A better question would be "Do you want me to sit on your head?"

The probability way? "Because if you sit on his head he will probably bite your bum." True story.

All of these conversations are very necessary conversations to have with a 2-year-old. The problem, however, is that there is only about a 3 second time frame from the moment Annie grits her teeth and gets that look in her eye until Riley's squeal hits an octave that even Mariah Carey never reached.

And so in that moment, in that split second, I resort to what I have come to fully understand as a perfectly good reason:

"Because I said so."
     and hope that it carries just enough weight to avert the crisis, or at least her attention long enough for Riley to scramble away and live another day.

Is it Mother's Day yet?!?

This one is dedicated to Serena and in honor of her most recent post.


Here's what my sweet child, my little baby girl, with whom I was in labor for 27 hours, whom I've fed and changed and bathed and cared for these past 3 years ... here's what she said to me earlier this week:

"Mom, stop singing! You're scaring away the birds!"

We were driving in the car with the windows rolled up.