she's back

When I started this blog, Winter was 2. She was about a year younger than Addie is now. She was definitely one to push the boundaries. Not a big fan of rules. I had a hard time parenting her for a long time. I remember fearing that she would always be a disobedient rulebreaker. Four years later and I still see that two year old from time to time but she's matured quite a bit. She is actually well behaved for the most part. Still fun loving and sassy though. It shows me that this parenting thing isn't one moment of correction but a series of moments and consistent molding and teaching right and wrong.

One of our favorite Winter stories takes place at the Andersons' house down the street. Winter was around 3 years old. I'm sure I have already written about it, in fact. But I don't want to go looking for the post. So Winter was in the Andersons' garage where she liked to hang out because that's where they kept (and still keep) all the good snacks and the garage door was usually open. (Our neighborhood has always been a place where there are several kids in the street and a few adults keeping an eye out)

And whenever Mr. Anderson was in the front yard he couldn't help but offer poor hungry Winter some fruit snacks. She would inhale them and ask for more. Soon, we learned what she was up to and usually kept a closer eye on her over there.

One day, we were hanging out in the street near the Andersons' as usual and it was time to go home for dinner. Winter was wearing a little backpack that wasn't hers. I asked her to take it off and she refused. She said it was hers. I told her it wasn't, and she said she needed it. We went back and forth and finally she threw it down and headed home. I gave Mrs. Anderson a "sorry my kid is a monster" look and she gave me a sweet "don't worry about it" look as I handed her the backpack. A few seconds later, she called my name. I turned around and she was holding the backpack open and laughing as she took out some fruit snacks, caprisuns and rice crispy treats. That little thief was trying to jack the Andersons' snacks along with the backpack she was stashing them in.

Lately, I've seen that same little girl appear in Addie. Last week I couldn't find her. I was calling her name, running all over the house and finally found her behind a large chair with a bag of cookies shoving the last bite in her mouth. The next day, she got into the gum and ate and swallowed a piece because I started walking toward her. A few days ago, we were hanging out near the Andersons' house. I guess we're creatures of habit. I looked around and couldn't find Addie. I called her name and no answer. Nancy spotted her between the bikes in her garage with a giant bag of M&M's, stuffing them in her mouth as soon as I made eye contact. OMG that's so Winter I thought. Ugh, here we go again.