Helpless When She Smiles

She'll dance away just like a child,
She drives me crazy, drives me wild,
But I'm helpless when she smiles.
-Backstreet Boys, Helpless When She Smiles

I think the takeover has become official. I'm no longer in control at my house, it's now under the rule of a 34 inch, 24 lb toddler who thinks she knows everything.

Is it bad that I find her completely hilarious?! I mean, as long as there isn't a fit, or screaming/crying involved, I think she is just funny.

Example 1: Saturday she talked back to her dad... I had to hide my face in a blanket so she wouldn't see me laughing until I cried! There was a dog food commercial on with an English Bulldog. Adam got excited (his favorite kind of dog) and showed Scarlett the puppy. Moments later, the screen flashed to 3 poodles (dogs that Adam can't stand, for whatever reason) and Scarlett got *really* excited. She was bouncing up and down saying 'puppen' over and over again. Adam told her no way, no poodles and that little girl wagged her finger at him and mumbled some kind of response back to him. This went back and forth between them for a few minutes, until Adam finally said "no poodles" and Scarlett said "fine!". Funny now? Totally! In a few years? Definitely not. I feel like I should be doing things to correct this, but it's kind of hard when I can't even catch my breath between the belly shaking laughs.

Example 2: 'NO' was her word of the day yesterday. I hate that it's so cute when she says it. She purses her lips out really far with the oooo sound of the word and continues about her business as if nothing happened. Ready for a nap? Nooooo. Want to have dinner? Nooooo. Let's go bye-bye... Nooooo. It's bath time! Nooooo. And my personal favorite... Do you need to go potty? Nooooo. Which is quickly followed by her running to the bathroom. Sometimes I think she just likes the word NO.

Right here is where I started considering putting a disclaimer up at the top of this post: I'm not really as bad of a mom as this makes me sound! LOL!!!!

Example 3: After her bath last night, she was really really tired. She had decided not to nap during the day (despite my best efforts) and was really hitting the end of her rope. Boy, let me tell you, she is CRAZY when she is that tired. Not the bad kind, the fall over laughing because she is so silly kind. I definitely get the bad mommy award for last night... I ended up letting her stay up another hour and half after her bath. I was having far too much fun playing with her, watching her laugh at herself and just enjoying the wonderful time together. It's not often that I have these great times where she doesn't act like the 'terrible twos' are taking over my little angel. I wanted to soak up every second of it. And when she started winding down, I took her to bed and she didn't make a peep. It was a great evening. A wonderful reminder that while she still has those horrid fits, my funny little girl is still in there. :)

*Sigh*

I think I'm becoming soft. I find myself starting to worry that Scarlett won't adjust to her new sister as easily as I'd like to imagine. I'm scared she's going to have big issues and I feel really bad. I think I'm trying to make things as easy as possible between her and I in this next few months that we have as *just* her and I. Probably not the best idea, but I suppose I'll deal with the consequences as they come. Soon she'll have to share me.