Stop Doing That!!

Ok, all you parents out there....you know this feeling, I know you do!! Whether you have one child, two children, three, four, five, or more....you KNOW what I'm about to say....

When you are in another room, say in the kitchen cooking dinner, and you hear a loud scream (not the blood curdling "oh my gosh I just hurt myself really badly and need my mommy or daddy to come quickly" scream, just the loud and angry scream...you know the one I mean!) can you automatically shout back "(insert one of your children's names here) stop doing that (perhaps to your brother/sister/dog/cat/etc)!" You pretty much can in our house....and one name is constantly in the pole position ---- ZOE ELIZABETH!!!! Seriously, this little imp is into EVERYTHING....at ALL times.

She picks on her brother.
She carries the cat around.
She pushes her brother.
She hits the cat.
She drags out more toys than any fifteen children could play with in a month.
She gets books off the bookshelf and leaves them in a large pile.
She needs to "go poop and pee" about every five minutes (remember she's been potty trained for awhile...but can never resist the whole "someone else is going so I gotta go" thing).
She pulls laundry off the couch.

So pretty much every time we hear a scream of anger coming from the other room we automatically shout "ZOE ELIZABETH STOP DOING THAT!!!!" And we always hear "ok sorry guys," back in response. Daniel's sort of a tattle tail. Which we've talked about with him, and he knows that it's not up to him to discipline his sister.

But, for all of the "trouble" she causes....there is also the fact that :

She cuddles more than any fifteen children every could in a month.
She gives the best sticky kisses.
She loves her brother more than life itself.
She adores her daddy.
She's really a pretty good helper at picking up all the toys.
She's infatuated with animals, and always apologizes when she's "mean" to the kitty.
She's polite....she always remembers to say "thank you," though she needs some prompting sometimes on "please."
She's pretty laid back.
She goes to bed easily.
She doesn't want to get out of her crib yet (I think she feels safe in there!), which means we only have to worry about ONE early riser making a mess before waking us up.
She has an incredible sense of adventure and is always up for trying new activities.
She's a good eater (if it's chicken, chicken, chicken, fries, green beans, chicken, or chicken!)
She loves her grandmothers, and can't wait to see them whenever she can.
She names her stuffed animals.
She loves stuffed animals more than I do.
She'll climb into bed with us and sing us songs at 1 am.

She's awesome. And I look at her and I think, "wow you're so much like me and yet you're so different." She's beautiful. She's loving. She's kind (usually). And I'm lucky for the fact that God chose HER to complete our little family.

I love you Zoe Pie Kicky Pants!!