A dose of attitude

Both Jason and I have been treated to a dose of almost-four-year-old attitude this week. On Monday, Ellie was chatting away as I was getting her ready for school. I was responding with a lot of "mmm-hmmms", so finally Ellie said in a stern voice, "Mommy, if your mouth is not full, you should not say 'mmm-hmmm.' You should say 'yes'!" I turned to her and said that she shouldn't be quite so bossy with Mommy. Her answer was, "I'm not being bossy. I'm just telling you!"

On Tuesday afternoon, she asked her daddy for a drink of water. He handed her some water in a regular cup, and she asked for a straw cup instead. Jason explained that all of our lidded cups with built-in straws were dirty, since he hadn't done the dishes yet. She said, "Well, you're just going to have to wash one."

When I got home that evening, I found Jason and Ellie watching videos of Ellie's first year with us. Jason explained that he'd brought those out to remind himself of the time when Ellie was sweet and, above all, quiet!