Who you calling Lady?

Anna is on marker restriction. And has been for a while. And it has been highly ineffective.
As in, she uses marker whenever she wants, on whatever surface she feels like.

In carpool today, she was trying HARD to break my will and win an inky prize.

A: Hey, Mama, Have any paper?
J: Nope.
A: A crayon?
J: Nope.
A: A small piece of paper and that green and white pen?
J: Nope.
A: I just look in your purse. You hand me your purse. I show you.
J: Nope.
A: Just give me your purse!
J: You never go through a lady's purse!
A: You're not a lady!
J: I am a lady!
A: When did you get to be an old lady?
J: I am not an OLD LADY! Ladies don't have to be old!
A: But you're a lady? When did you get to be a lady?
J: Oh, girlfriend, it is a process.

This evening, I picked up a pewter tray, covered in scribbles of crayon. I asked, "Anna, did you do this?" She hesitated just long enough for me to turn it over to the other side. Which said, ANNA ANAN ANNA NANAN ANNA ANNA ANNA.

Trust me, it took everything in me to respond in a ladylike fashion.

There's an app for that...

hanging out in the front yard after ballet

I made a rookie parenting mistake the other day.
Pop Pop is coming to visit on Saturday.  
I told Anna on Wednesday.
Four-year olds don't have the best sense of temporal succession. But they do understand NOW.

NOW is when we want to see Pop Pop. NOW.

We were talking about family the other day. We love people close and we love people far.

Katie asked the other day if her cousin James was allowed to get on the computer.

Then she said, and I quote, "We need an app for our whole family. There would be a code and everyone could type it and then we all could talk."

Amen, sister. This is my attempt at Katie's "Family App."