My First Half Hour Alone With Her and This Is What Happens...

My mom had to leave the house for a very short while earlier today so naturally I was in charge of keeping an eye on the baby. We were playing outside with chalk when I noticed she needed a diaper change- of course, she wanted to take the chalk with her. When we were ready to go back downstairs- Sasha still clutching the bucket of chalk firmly in her hand- she decided it would be oh so hilarious to start throwing the chalk down the stairs. Of course, I tried to make eye contact and told her "no, no, no" very firmly, but I guess it wasn't too effective since the look of pure happiness on her face when she was doing it kept me from keeping a straight face. Eventually I composed myself and told her no very seriously, but she often tests how far she can get away with things and kept throwing the chalk, even though she clearly knew she wasn't supposed to.

I did end up distracting her and took her outside, but went back in when my mom came so that I could explain the situation before she saw the mess and drew the conclusion that I let her run wild in the house unsupervised. Sasha could tell right away that I was "telling" on her, and literally tried to kiss up to my mom by grabbing her face and kissing her on the mouth. She then turned around and tried to hit me. This child, I'm telling you! Naughty, maybe, but certainly crystal-clear in the head!

When she did this, we both firmly told her no and my mom started stroking my face, saying "soft, soft on Susanna" the way we tell her to do with the cats (and usually ignores out of excitement.) She repeated this and then kissed me on the lips, almost by way of apology, but then turned around and pinched my mom. She really tests us to see how we'll react to these things, if we'll punish her or let her get away with it. We have to tell her no, of course, but it seems that she usually then feels guilty and tries to make up for it. If she's physically harmful to anyone in any way, it's either for this reason or because she thinks it's funny- or, even if she doesn't think it's particularly funny, she forces a laugh to convince us that it is (we don't fall for it.)

All in all, though, I can't complain. A SW came a few days ago for a post-placement visit, and she did all the right things: she showed she was attached by refusing to let the SW hold her, yet was independent enough to not cling to us and roamed around the house; she was all charm and smiles, blowing kisses to the SW when she left, yet showed a bit of her flair for drama: after eating four cookies (we do spoil her a bit) and not letting her have another, she threw herself down on the floor and started fake crying. She resisted anyone trying to hold her and take her hand, and turned her back, refusing to look at anyone. It's always so funny when she does this, because we know she's not really mad; she gets over herself very quickly. I definetely can see her becoming an actress!