Conned by my 2 year old

Cute, right?  Yes, very cute and she can be very sweet.  This little one has plenty of spunk and energy and joy.  In fact, her name is Ellie JOY.

Now, Ellie has hit a bit of a rough patch.  Actually, I should rephrase that because to say that she has hit a rough patch would insinuate that she has a problem and, well, that just wouldn't be accurate. I'm the one with the problem.  I'm the one that needs to be on high alert with this little girl lately.

Shane and I have always trained our babies to sleep through the night in their own beds and later to take naps in their big kid beds without getting up.  Ellie has not been an exception.  But, lately, she has been getting out of bed.  What?  One of MY kids getting out of bed during nap time?  Yes, one of them.  The littlest...the baby of the family. The one that my son warns me will be a brat if I don't give her more discipline (okay, you caught me....he really used the word "spankings").

Ellie has been tearing up her (shared) bedroom while she should be napping and sadly that's not the worst of it.  She also got into one of her older sister's markers and drew on books, on herself and on her clothes. She also got into that sister's water colors and got that all over her. Then, most recently she got into the same sister's school valentines and took red heart suckers off of the valentines and ate them.  (At first we thought the count was 7 but later realized it was "only" 3.)  And I promise you I did not just put her in her bed,say good night and shut the door. I checked on her to make sure she wasn't getting into stuff.  Any time she had something I would take it away from her and put her back in her bed.  But this one...oh, she is quick!

After all this we really buckled down and got firm with Miss Ellie.  So, yesterday and today she stayed in bed during nap time.  She didn't ever fall asleep today but she still stayed in bed.  Ahh, progress.  (But is it really progress if we are having to re-train her?)

So, now we get to the part where she cons me.  Yep, my own child, whom I love conned me.  When it was bedtime for the littlest girls I thought Ellie would fall right to sleep because of the fact that she didn't fall asleep at nap time.  But, instead she told me, after I put her jammies on her, that her legs hurt.  She was very serious and pathetic sounding and she repeated it over and over and over again.  I put more Aquaphor on her legs (she has eczema) but she still insisted that her legs hurt.  I prayed for her legs.  Still hurt.  I let her take off her jammy pants.  Still hurt.  I rubbed her legs.  Still hurt.  I offered to go get her medicine.

And I tell you the truth....when I left the room to get the medicine she had great fun in the room with her sister, Lucy.  It was like a two minute fiesta. But, as soon as I came back in with the medicine she was telling me again, over and over AND over, how much her legs hurt.

Now, can you believe that?  I'm having a hard time with this.

I mean I can remember my other kids doing stuff that was far from perfect at very young ages. I remember one had tantrums, one hit a Sunday school teacher, one was extremely stubborn, one just loved dirt and being filthy (who am I kidding.....she still does!).

But, I honestly can't recall being conned before.  Shane says I'm just forgetting.  He's probably right....

Presently, Ellie is sleeping peacefully.  How did she get over her hurt legs you may ask?  Well, Shane had gone in to say goodnight to her and Lucy.  Ellie gave Shane the same story about her hurt legs and Shane asked her, "You know what helps? Going to sleep helps."  Ellie then laid down and went to sleep.

Oh how I love this little one.  She is wearing me out like none other and honestly, lately I have felt angry with her, but I am thankful for her and I love her dearly.