Bargaining

I think that the next time anyone is in a labor dispute or anything like that, they should get Margaret to do their bargaining for them, because she is marvelous at it.  I think that her secret is that she is willing to blow the whole thing up without fear of consequences if she doesn’t get her way.  Also, she will throw herself full-length on the floor and scream if need be.

Anyway, the subject of many of our recent negotiations has been whether or not she can take various objects with her between activities – Legos to bed with her, stuffed toys here and there, a fork with her to the store, you know, that kind of thing.  And sometimes things get a little tense, as I draw the line at taking 6 different stuffed toys everywhere with us, particularly since “Mommy carry it” is a favorite saying.

So today, we were going to the grocery store, and Margaret said “Madeline and monkey come with me.”  I decided that that was fine, but as she walked past me, I noticed that she had an elephant as well.  I said “Did Mommy say you could take the elephant?”  She looked down, and without missing a beat said, with an air of wonderment, “Huh, look at that.”  As if she’d never HEARD of stuffed elephants and didn’t have any idea what was going on.

Thereafter followed an epic battle of wills, somewhat hampered by the fact that I was laughing too hard to make things stick.

Notice the look of grim determination about the jaw.  And the three stuffed toys.