To hear or not to hear?

Emma will be 3 in a few weeks. Yesterday I was going to write a post on how much fun she has been lately...saying new things, pretending, etc. she really is hilarious. Tonight at the fire station we were in a truck and Steven was saying that everything in the truck was pretty "firefighter proof," which Emma took to mean that every firefighter poops. Well, yes, but....we have many conversations that go like that. She says fun things like, "daddy is my best friend. He really loves me. He is working hard, he is hungry, we better take him some food." She loves to stand and wave to him as he leaves for work, watching until he drives out of sight. She tells her animals, "it's gonna be ok. You're gonna have fun playing with your friends. Do you wanna come with me? Ok. I love you. Don't be sad." Which is a conversation we have at church when I drop her off. Her reason for everyone's sadness is that "they want their mommy." But anyway, I am learning that "3" is going to be hilarious, fun AND challenging. We are entering a stage that involves lots of ignoring...I know she hears me, I know she knows better, and I am trying to not get too frustrated, and be creative with discipline and using natural consequences. However, this only works when she doesn't like the consequences....Sunday she literally dumped her cereal on the floor 3 times, I thought the first two could have been accidents, but now I know better. She was dumping them so she could use the broom to clean them up herself. She thinks cleaning these messes is fun...like when she 'gets' to use wipes to clean the marker off the floor. We just finished a book in M&Ms where they talked about "out-stubborning" your child. For me this is going to mean I can keep my cool longer than she can push my buttons...because she is very good at pushing my buttons...partly because she also thinks it is fun to get up before the sun, so my fuse is shorter. But thankfully our book also reminded me how patient my Heavenly Father is with me, so I can do the same for for her. So it is nice to have those moments of snuggles,  kisses, and silliness to balance out the crazy. Here she is "putting away her books" Grace-style, where you read them instead of put them away. 

And here are some more from the park...hanging herself again.