Consistency. With a capital C!

Yes, I love my little girl. She is just the most precious thing in the world to me. In fact, I call her precious so often that just today I sneezed and she said, "Bless you! Are you OK, precious?" Bless her sweet little heart...she is precious! :o) Having said that, she is also a MESS! Oh. My. Word. Sometimes there is just no other way to describe that little stinker. She keeps us on our toes and challenges our consistency more times than we wish to even try to keep up with. Sure, there are things that Jonathan and I choose to ignore...there will always be battles that aren't worth fighting. But one thing we have attempted to stand firm on is consistency. When we ask Hallie to do something, we go to great lengths to make sure she carries through with obeying our request. If we don't, then she'll quickly learn that we don't mean business and that she can walk all over Mommy and Daddy. No thanks. Having said that, Hallie will go to great lengths to get HER way. She has never really been a "pitch a fit" kind of girl...not saying she can't (because believe you me, the girl can throw one if she thinks it'll get her what she wants--which it usually doesn't), but generally she knows that's not going to get her what she wants (as mentioned just two seconds ago). So Hallie has learned to talk her way through trying to get her way. And I hate to admit it, but she is really good at this. I mean, REALLY good...for a two year old that is. Sometimes her antics get the best of me and I just can't stifle my giggle. At that moment, she'll give me a knowing grin while I regain my composure...and we'll begin the game again. I'm not kidding when I say she does this all the time. Nor am I exaggerating. It's usually with something small like why she should wear "these" shoes rather than "those" shoes. But this last banter kept me in stitches (along with my mother-in-love) throughout the entire conversation. It is now a burned memory...I will never forget her expressions, I will never forget exactly what she said and my replies. I have replayed this a thousand times in my head...and I giggle every stinking time! I love her...and here's why:

Hallie chose to ditch our usual Chick-fil-A after ballet last Tuesday and replaced it with McAlister's. I can't say that anyone was upset by this change (especially my wonderful husband who happens to loathe CFA...HOW did this happen?!). Hubs and I meet up at McAlister's and begin enjoying a tasty supper. The grandparents and Uncle J join later. After everyone is there, Hallie is past being finished with her supper and has proceeded to entertain herself at the booth behind us while everyone enjoys conversation. Of course, RahRah and I can't keep our eyes off Hallie because she is just too entertaining. Hallie is playing around with the little dish that houses the sugar/sugar substitute packages. Then she gets a sly little look on her face and begins to act as if she's going to dump the entire dish of packets onto the floor underneath the table. I gave her the "you had better not do that" look along with the head shake. She obeyed and continued playing around with the packets. Then I hear, "Ha ha ha." I turn around and ask her if she dumped the packets onto the floor. She quickly replied that she had indeed. Sigh. Here's the rest of the conversation:

Kendra: Hallie, I told you not to do that. You need to pick those sugar packets up.

Hallie: I don't want to.

K: I understand that you don't want to, but I want you to pick those up.

H: (surveying the scattered packets underneath the table) Hmm...but I might hit my head under there.

K: No, Hallie. You won't hit your head. You'll be careful under there. Now get down there and pick up the packets, please.

H: (crossing her legs while hanging on the edge of the table) But Mommy! There might be SPIDERS under there!

**At this point, I nearly lost it. My MIL lost it completely. Come on. That's cute. I have to give her credit where it's due--that was a pretty creative excuse. But it didn't deter me!**

K: No, Hallie. There aren't any spiders under there. Please pick the packets up now.

(I immediately felt bad about saying this because I didn't really know that there weren't spiders under there! Ha!)

H: But I will get my hands dirty. And my clothes dirty. I don't need to get down there. (Again, props to her...I always tell her to get up off the dirty floor--LOL!)

K: (slightly irritated at this point) Hallie. We will go wash your hands and brush your clothes off. It will be OK. Now pick them up. One...two...

H: (sighs) OK, Mommy. I'll pick them up.

Consistency. Whew. So I move to the booth to oversee this little clean up project as Hallie crawls underneath the table of the booth and begins picking up the sugar/sugar sub packets. She has about 6 packets in her hand and then sits up to sort of readjust herself. Wouldn't you know it, the stinker bumped her head. She immediately reached up to her head and popped her head around to catch my gaze...then these words came out of her mouth:

H: See Mommy! I did bump my head. I told you I would bump my head. I told you!

K: (stifling a giggle) I saw that. I'm sorry. Be careful under there.

Hallie continued her little project of picking up the packets, doing a wonderful job, of course. It even became a little game to her. She began sorting them by color--white, pink, blue, and yellow. She was quite determined once she got started. In the end, she even put them back in her dish. And it was all completed with a dusting of the clothes and a hand washing.

I'm almost certain this is only the beginning of my tests in the consistency department. That little ordeal took about 15 minutes. At least. I'm positive I'm going to be getting phone calls from Hallie's teachers. Oh my!

Consistency. I think I can, I think I can. Or will I be outwitted by my toddler?! Oh my!