a lot can happen in just a few days . . .

Well, its official, Lainey's growing up and I'm not totally thrilled about it all. This past weekend, she started sleeping in the top bunk, promising me she wouldn't fall out. (and she hasn't yet! Though I did have to turn her back vertical when I went to check on her last night. She was sleeping with her feet on the wall and her head on the "buckle"--what she calls the thingy that goes on the side of the bed so she won't fall out). She has even started climbing the ladder all by herself.

On Monday, we bought Lainey her first booster seat for the car. We saw it in an ad and she was instantly in LOVE! Its hot pink with hearts all over it. Each heart has a word in it like "princess," "fabulous," "sassy," and "heartbreaker." Nice.

Just today she saw some neighbor kids riding their bikes in the street and realized that she could do the same. It opened a whole new world to her! (Apparently, according to her, one can go so much faster in the street!)

Also today she might have developed a good start to an eating disorder (thanks Scott). As I told her to eat her sandwich she told me she couldn't because "If I eat too much, then I'll get obese. Look at my belly, its getting fatter and fatter and fatter!" (For those of you worried, don't be . . . that's my too smart for her own good Lainey talking! She likes to use semi-logical arguments quite a bit . . . "Mommy, can I sleep in your bed?" "No, that's my bed." "But mommy, we should share! I'll give it back!")

Later I told her that its the things that we really like that make us obese like desserts so we shouldn't eat a lot of those. She was eating a bag of Cheetos at the time. So I asked, "You like Cheetos a lot, right?" "Nope" was her answer. Then she continued eating them. I gathered from this that if she tells me she doesn't like something a lot then it suddenly becomes good for you. She finished the whole bag.

And to cap the day off, she turned into a 3 year old and I turned into Dad. She wouldn't clean up. I told her she had until the clock hand pointed to the 7 to clean up or (here comes the Dad part) I would put all her things in a garbage bag and put them away so she can't play with them for a while. And I told her she would have to go to bed for not listening to me. She thought about it and decided that sounded good to her. So she said, "Okay, I'm not going to clean up." Then she pointed out to me when the clock hand was pointing at the 7 and cheerfully watched me put all her things in a garbage bag. She seemed so thrilled by the whole thing that I thought at one point she might start helping me! Then she pulled a "Tara" and grabbed a pair of shoes off the floor and said, "Ha Ha! I'm going to put these away so you can't get them." When my room got cleaned up Dad, I too picked up a pair of shoes and put them away. Then I sent her to bed and she cried realizing that I meant she was going to bed for the whole night and that meant that the promise of cookies was no longer going to be realized.

I know some of you are thinking, "Finally, Tara gets a taste of a true 3 year old." (and Dad's thinking, "Finally, she realizes I was right in throwing out all her stuff!") True, but I miss my angelic little girl!