Little Quirks

Everyone has their quirks. Some are endearing, many are annoying. I think it's especially funny to see how these personality traits show themselves in kids. For an adult to be particular about the way his socks are folded is one thing, but it's way funnier when a 2-year-old acts the same way.

Molly has some really funny quirks of late. A few of them I have seen today (as most days over the past few weeks) include:

- she insists on having a spoon with EVERY meal. This includes meals when she doesn't need any utensils, like when she ate her waffle this morning. The bright side: when she doesn't actually get it dirty (like this morning) she's kind enough to return her clean spoon to the utensil drawer.

- It seems Molly thinks she's European. When she gives hugs, especially before nap or bedtime, you must hug her on both sides. In other words, she'll hug with her right cheek leaning on you, then sit up straight so she can hug with her left cheek leaning. Try to get away with only half a hug, and she very angrily corrects you.

- One of her favorite new games is to yell "I love you." But she almost yells it like she's mad or arguing about something. I "yell" it back to her, and with each round she gets louder and louder. Think of when 2 kids are yelling "am not!" and "are too!" back and forth, and then replace those words with "I love you!" and you get the idea. Kind of cute, kind of disturbing that even sentiments of love can be given an antagonistic tone.

this was taken last week, but gives you a little idea of what I'm talking about

I write of these adorable little oddities from my youngest daughter not because we had a wonderful day together. Quite the opposite - she screamed and fought me EVERY time I put her in her car seat today (which for a frame of reference was 6 times total). She got annoyed and tossed her yogurt cup, getting yogurt all over my clothes. She screamed at me as I put her down for bed tonight. So for as bumpy a ride as the two of us shared today, I am going to remember the cute quirks that I love so much and not the stubbornness and defiance I was confronted with repeatedly. I love my children - the good, the bad, and the ugly - but the good is so much nicer to focus on.