Little Tease

Two-year-olds are notorious for mischief and mine is no exception. It’s usually around this time that parents really start to see personalities emerging as their brains start making connections that hadn’t been made before. A few days ago, our little Ellie Bean managed to show us a bit of her mischievous side.

We were enjoying a fabulous home-cooked pork roast with homemade dinner rolls the other night when Cami, our six-year-old decided she needed a refill on her glass of water. We all know that the cats may make a move on an unattended plate from time to time, but they never get far with so many hands at the table ready to shoo them away. What we didn’t know (until now) is that the two-year-old and the cats have a lot in common. While Cami was refilling her water, Ellie reached over and stole a bite of pork roast right off of her plate. That in itself is not much of a story. What she did next is where it got interesting.

With the small bite of pork in her hand Ellie started waving it in front of her and chanting “Sissy! Sissy!” As soon as Cami came back to the table, innocent little Ellie waved the stolen bite right in her sister’s face, said “Sissy” one more time then popped it into her mouth as a guilty grin spread across her face followed by a stereotypical two-year-old giggle. Apparently its time for Cami to start guarding her food a little more closely.

When bedtime came around, Ellie was still in her mischievous mood. Now, she knows that once she is put into bed, she is supposed to stay there, but somehow, that sinful nature seems to emerge once the lights go out. As Mommy and I were relaxing on the couch, we heard that same two-year-old giggle that we had heard at dinner coming from the girls’ room. Judging from the sounds we were quite certain that little Miss Innocent was not in her bed at the moment. This has happened before and it usually results in a swift paddling on the tooshie and a non-stop ride back to bed.

Apparently Ellie had planned this one out because as soon as I opened the door, she turned and looked at me with a deer-in-the-headlights look. She knew she had been caught. What I didn’t know was that she had a back-up plan. As I made my move toward her, she spun around, aimed her backside at me, patted her own tooshie, and said, “Poo-poo! Poo-poo!”

“Darn it,” I thought. “What kind of dad would spank a pile of turd and rub it into a kid’s bum before cleaning it up?”  Knowing she was probably right, I moved in to verify that her defense shield was indeed in place. Sure enough, it was there.

“Alright, Chick,” I said. “Bummy up.” With that she dutifully laid down on her back and raised her legs into the air so I could gain access to the necessary areas. After cleaning up the mess, I sent her back to bed with a stern warning that she was not to deploy her defenses again until morning.

Fortunately she complied, but I fear what she might pull next.