Far, far away

In a land far, far away, there lived a three-year-old girl and her five-year-old brother and they loved to talk and play with each other. One night, the girl and her brother were talking and their mommy caught snippets of their conversation but didn't really understand it and kept at the task she was doing. But at the end of one particular convo, the mommy heard the brother say, "Take the eraser," and she was throughly confused. Take the eraser? What did the phrase mean?

Minutes later, the mommy heard, "Come here, Mommy," being shouted by the girl. The mommy stopped what she was doing, followed the shouts, and discovered a line from her bedroom, down the hall to the bathroom. She walked into her room and found a line under her light switch.

"Who did this?" the mommy asked the little girl.

"My brother," the girl answered.

The mommy yelled for the brother. Obviously the mommy hadn't been clear about writing and drawing on walls, lamps, windows, and televisions.

The brother when questioned had no reason of why he had done what he had done. And as he discovered erasing the pencil mark off the walls smears instead of cleans and had to upgrade to a rag and soap, the mommy thought it was time for a family conference about the joys of paper and coloring books. And maybe after the conference, this far, far, far away land won't ever see markings on walls, TVs, or any other places they shouldn't be.

Amazing how the brother can remember the lyrics to Wrong Baby Wrong by Martina McBride, but can't remember a conversation that happened hours before about not writing on things. Oh the goings on in the far, far, far way land.

But back in the greatest city in the world, the trio and I went to a potluck on Saturday. An acquaitance came up to me and asked, "How old is your youngest now?"

"Two," I answered.

The woman nodded her head. "I thought so. She has the face of an one or two-year-old, but she has the confidence and swagger of a two-year-old."

I nodded and smiled. That's right my baby has swagger. And that's the problem, it's that cute little baby face. So innocent. So babyish. So hard to believe she could do wrong or throw siblings under the bus. My perfect little baby with swagger.