the imp master

it's been previously admitted that my two year old is often times the most challenging for me as a parent. She's an imp. A mischievous little monster who lives to satisfy her insatiable curiosity or tease her older sister. It's not malicious, just impish.

Example 1: Ladybug will pick up my cell phone and pretend to call Mae. Mae is Butterfly's best friend. So Ladybug will pretend to be chatting with Mae, Butterfly will hear it and excitedly ask to talk to her too. Unsurprisingly, Ladybug says no and then becomes more animated in her phone conversation. Butterfly begins to beg and wail and this will build into an all out chase and tackle. Eventually, Butterfly will get the phone, realize that Ladybug was pretending and storm off in a huff while Ladybug lays on the floor giggling to herself.

Example 2: Butterfly will be playing with a toy of some sort. Ladybug wanders over and sits next to her to watch, her faithful companions Yellow and Panda in tow. She will wait and watch for the right moment and then stealthily steal one of Butterfly's toys and slip it under her blanket. By all appearances, she doesn't actually want to play with it, she just wants her sister to get upset when she realizes that its missing. Eventually Butterfly will either dissolve into tears and come to me for a cuddle or panickedly search the house for the missing toy. And now having achieved her goal of teasing her sister, Ladybug will abandon the toys altogether and go find something else to do.

Examples 3 through 7 billion could be things like when she says "hm, I wonder whats on top of the book case, lets climb and find out." or "I wonder if the crayons will work on the walls too." or "ooh mud! let's make snow angels in it." or "I wonder what chalk tastes like." or "hey, look! chocolate pudding finger paint!" or "I wonder if I can wash the new LCD tv with a baby wipe/the couch with hand soap/my sister with rice/etc." or "of course the cat needs to be fed seven times a day, double helpings." or "I bet a glue stick is just like mom's lipstick." and the list goes on... ...for the record, all of these were in the past two months.

So what part is hardest as a parent? protecting the baby, preventing serious injuries, keeping the house clean, endless piles of laundry, trying to limit damage to personal property, an obese cat, etc. This is especially difficult because even though she gets caught and punished, she usually shows no remorse and will simply try again.

The best parts? Watching her face with each new discovery. Hearing her chatter when she's excited to show me something. Laughing at her antics (and as my mom would say, grab the camera first). And realizing that she will eventually grow out of this and become less destructive so just enjoy her and all of her curious, impish energy while it last.