Testing the limits

Gracie has found new pleasure in finding trouble. She has a knack for finding the one thing in any room that she should stay away from, and once she's found it, you can bet she'll go back to it over and over and over again.

Our experience this morning is a perfect example. I was trying to get a load of laundry done before heading out for the day, and Gracie was playing in the loft. For months she has ignored the closet in the loft, but this weekend she discovered that it held many new treasures, her favorite being a box that holds place mats and chopsticks. She got it out several times this weekend and Jeff and I made her put it back each time. This morning as I was putting the laundry in, she went straight for the box. (She also has a keen sense for knowing when we're busy and not paying that close of attention.) I walked toward her, and she obviously knew I was going to ask her to put it away because she ran just inside my bedroom.
"Gracie, put that back please," I said in my best "mommy voice".

"Back?" she responded in her cutest voice with a sly smile forming.

"Gracie, bring that here now, please."

"Now?" Her smile is growing bigger.

It was time to bring out my sternest voice..."Gracie....", and do you know what she did?!?! She gave me a huge grin and slammed the door shut! It was a good thing the door was closed so that she couldn't see me lose it and laugh hysterically. I pulled myself together, opened the door, and she ran out and handed me the box.

A few minutes later things were very quiet, so I went to check on her again. This time I found her sitting in her rocking chair reading her Bible. Ahhhh....that's more like it!

I hear her playing in the china cupboard now, so I'm off to another battle! =)

Shirt Heads

Recently Gracie has been learning to take her own clothes off. She's mastered pants and (unfortunately!) diapers. This was her attempt tonight at taking her shirt off. Jeff instantly joined in the fun and they became "shirt heads". It was the end of a long rainy day spent inside and I think we were all feeling a little goofy!

Yogurt

Grace has recently been working on learning to eat using a spoon and fork. She's got the fork down pretty well, but the spoon is another story. This morning I gave her a bowl of yogurt and a spoon to see what would happen. She started out really trying to use the spoon and made quite a mess. The spoon must not have been quite efficient enough, however, because she soon gave up on it and began scooping the yogurt into her mouth using her whole hand. When that wasn't fast enough, she just tilted the bowl up to her face and tried to drink it. You can see from the picture that she made quite a mess, but yogurt supposed to be good for your skin, right!?!? For some reason she thought it was hysterical to stick her finger up her nose every time I tried to take a picture. What a little lady!!!