Who's the boss?

Yes, I did watch that show when I was a kid. But now I know who the boss is:

 

I thought I'd better document some of the things the Boss does so when she has her own bossy little girl she can know it's just payback (my brothers and parents tell me I was pretty bossy growing up).

Rachel got on a kick a few months back of blowing raspberries all the time, sometimes right in her friends' faces. Not a good thing to do during cold season. So we tried to teach her every time she'd do it, "We don't do that at people." Now anytime Jake or I do that, she promptly corrects us: "Don't do that at people!" Yes, ma'am.

Many times when Rachel needs to go potty (especially #2), she'll stand up, look at me, put her hand up like she's a crossing guard telling a car to stop and say, "You stay RIGHT THERE. I be right back." Then she heads off to the bathroom. Last night at bedtime she did this. After she's had time to do her business I usually try to make my way in to help her wipe. As I started moving in last night she apparently saw my shadow move or heard the rustle of my clothes and said, "No, Mommy. Don't move. You stay right there!" Miss Independent.

Rachel is also the protector of everyone's property. Especially her own if a crawling baby is near by. She loves cute little immobile babies and is so cute with them, doing peek-a-boo and tickling them. But once they start crawling they become a threat and she keeps a close eye on them. If they get too close to a toy of hers she tells them, "No, baby! That's not yours. Go back to your mommy!" Or this morning a friend's baby was standing holding on to the couch next to me and would occasionally put his hand on my knee. Rachel informed him, "No, baby. That's my mommy!" But she doesn't limit her property patrol to her own things. If I was using the laptop, and Jake sits down to look at it (or even tries to read over my shoulder) Rachel informs him, "No, Daddy! That's Mommy's computer!" Or when I started reading a book Jake had recently finished she informed me, "Mommy, that's Daddy's book! Put it down!"

Today I was trying to get Rachel to take a nap-I think we missed the critical nap window and she was no longer tired. (By the way, the binky removal was a complete success. She had no nap on Friday with a lot of kicking and screaming, but went to bed with no problems that night, and ever since then she hasn't even cared that she had no binky and has mostly gone to bed without much hassle--well, no more than before binky removal, anyway.) Anyway, so today I kept hearing her playing when she was supposed to be napping so I went in to lay on the floor to get her to stay laying down on her bed (which usually works and she usually falls asleep within 10 minutes). Today, however she DID NOT want me there. She told me, "Mom, go away!" She's taken to telling me that at naptime or bedtime more often lately. When I didn't leave she told me "I stay in my bed! You go to your bed. Not on my ground! Go!" To make a long, boring story short (and still boring), she didn't nap. But she fell asleep for 15 minutes in the car a little later.

And yes, we are trying to teach her to be nicer when she speaks. But it makes me laugh to hear her bossing me and everyone else around sometimes. Though I try not to laugh in front of her. I often think it's a good thing 2-year-olds learn to speak when they do because the things they say are so cute and funny (even when they're rude) that it helps balance out the crabby, belligerent, independent, temper tantrum side of the 2-year-old and gives me something to laugh about to help me stay sane.