terrorist threes

my 3 yo pushes my buttons every night, and she shares a room with her 6 yo sister. two nights ago i took away all her stuffed animals and asked her to go to sleep. she cried, then was playing again in a few minutes. then i went in and took her pillow. i told her if i had to come back in, her mattress was next. it was nuts, but it worked. for now. at one point a while back, i resorted to spanking her - i was at my wit's end. i was disappointed to find it didn't really phase her, so then i felt guilty for striking my child. grrr. sometimes you can't win - i was hoping to just startle her and help her hear me. that's not helping her, nor me.

kids say the darnedest things

so a while back, i took ani to sunday school with nissa and i and we did the whole bit- class time, communion, post-church gathering. a few days later, she asked about getting the holy bread from the guy on the stage. she liked it and wanted to go back. in hind sight, i wish i could do that for her more often. maybe sunday school from home? it was just too much this year.

ani's observations strike again

we went to the pool as a family yesterday. ani's favorite thing is to do water ballet: stand on the underwater platform (for lessons) and do some barre work and twirl. while we were there, she said she wanted duck feet. duck feet? i look over and there's a large basket of fins on the wall. duck feet. genius.