Bogus Gold

I got to spend extra time with my kids over this holiday weekend. Which was important because the middle child is currently pushing just about every button the wife has. She's three, which gets my vote as the most difficult age anyway. But she's really three these days. And will be lucky to make it to four if she doesn't develop a little restraint soon.

One of her latest obsessions is playing with the laundry detergent (and various other clothes cleaning products). She gets consistently punished every time she's caught, but it doesn't faze her. Oh, she howls like a banshee regardless how mild the form of punishment is. It just has no bearing on her future decision making.

She's also fearless and more agile than our other children, able to climb up to and/or get into things that are supposed to be child-proof. Thankfully, she's also by far our pickiest eater, so she doesn't usually put the various forbidden cleaners, shampoos, cosmetics, etc. into her mouth.

Another recent obsession of hers is to undress/dressup over and over all day. This means that if you have the child dressed for an outing and make the mistake of turning your back, she's already undressed again. Once again, punishment gets nothing through.

All the while the youngest one approaches her terrible-twos, with a big sister who's behavior she's already copying. Going to be a rough winter in my house.