If manipulation had a face...

it might look like this(smashed nose and all).

Allow me to share a few recent conversations with Kate to demonstrate her efforts at manipulating situations to get things her way.

Let me set the scene. Last night around 5 p.m. I was kneading dough on the table to make pizza crust. A decent amount of flour is on the table. Kate climbs on the bench to "watch".

Kate: "Watch this mom."(flinging flour around with her hand)

Me: "Kate, hands down. If you throw it again you have to get down."

Kate: grabs more flour and flings it again.

Me: "Get down Kate."

Kate: while not getting down and smiling at me," Happy birday mom. You fabulous pretty fairy, whole vide vorld." (since Kate's birthday she thinks that saying happy birthday is just a nice thing to say. She doesn't yet get the celebration of birth part of it. She also thinks if she ends any sentence with the phrase "whole wide world" she is being complimentary.)

I thanked her for her nice words and got her down.

Scene two. This morning. I'm cleaning her dishes off the table. From behind me I hear her come into the living room.

Kate: "Mom I det ready all my self."

Me: "I'm guessing you are wearing your favorite shorts." I turn around to find her with her go-to rainbow striped gaucho pants that she tries to wear everyday. I don't know what I will do when I can't tell her it is to cold for them anymore. We will see them a lot this summer.

Me: "It is to cold for those today love. You need to wear pants."

Kate: "I look pretty in them. I wear them." and she marches back into her room.

Sure Kate, since you think you look pretty in them you can wear them. Who cares that it is currently 20 degrees outside. She is wearing jeans today in case you were wondering.

Scene three. Moments ago. I hear her yelling from the back so I go to check it out and find her on my bed. She is not supposed to get up there unless Bry or I are in the room because she cannot get down herself.

Me: "Kate what are you doing up there?"

Kate: "Jakey (she has been calling him Jakey lately) needs me. I better go. Hop me down."

Me: "You need to stay down from here unless mom or dad is here."

Kate: "I luv you mom. Hop me down."

If she is already starting to work on her powers of manipulation now, it scares me to think of how good she will be when she is a teenager. We may keep her locked in her room.