O Ye of Strong Will

My sweet, kind and loving daughter can easily melt my heart. With her bright blue eyes and her silly personality, I value the little girl that she is becoming.

She has such a caring heart for others and can not stand when someone near her is sad. She is friendly and talkative.

Oh holy goodness....she is talkative.




But, she has another quality that continually astounds me.

Her will.

Her STRONG will.

Some may mistake it as being mischievous.



But, oh dear....they are so very wrong.

She's 3. But, she has to have the last word. For real. The very last. Even if it is muttered under her breath or mouthed silently.

I'm in for it.

Take this morning, for example.

Miriam knows what is expected of her. She is in charge of taking her juice cup to the table when she is done drinking it. But, she still asks me because she's "too tired" or "too cold" or plain doesn't want to.

And then she whines.

And ten minutes later she asks again.

This morning it took a couple rounds before she got up and walked it to the table, looking at me out of the corner of her eye, daring me to give her accolades for being obedient. (She hates when I give her a hearty "Good Job!" when she is grouchy.)

Yes, she is also moody at 3 years old.

I ignored her.

So, then came round two.

Refusing to throw the yogurt container away.

She was too tired.

She told me this over and over AS SHE WAS WALKING to the garbage can.

And this is where, once again, I shudder at the future confrontations I will have with this sweet child.

She stood in front of the garbage and insisted on throwing it in the recycle bin (it was one of those tube containers and wasn't rinsed out). I told her no and she then threw the container at the lid of the trash can until it opened and then stormed off.

And then I took this picture.



And then I prayed. This is only the beginning.