Mini Me.

Charis has taken to chewing her hair. A nasty little habit. One that I actually remember doing myself. Ew. So I tell her "If you don't stop doing that, I'm going to cut your hair off."

She slowly takes it out. Looks at me kind of funny. And says, "Alllllll of it?" Because...well, you know, she must weigh her options.

Now, obviously I did not mean I would shave the girl bald. But I have to admit, for a freak second, I pause and think "What is the best way for me to answer this? Do I let her think that I will, in fact, bic her? Would the fear of becoming a Brittany Spears look-alike be the ticket in nixing this dirty habit?"

Honestly, I don't remember WHAT I said. No, really. It's true. So I can't tell you if I allowed this little miscommunication to remain. (I'm thinking I didn't). But I do know that it came up again today...when I found her, hair-in-mouth. She looked at me and without my even saying a word, she took it out of her mouth and said, "Are you going to cut it off? Like Granddaddy's?"

"Nooooo. I won't cut it all off. But I will cut it very short. And I'd reallllllly like to let your hair grow long and pretty." Without missing a beat, she says innocently, "But Mommy, I want my hair like yours. Because yours is very, very Beautiful."

Awww...what a wonderful diversion tactic. How sweet. How completely intelligent. ;) And in that instant, the whole hair-chewing thing was forgotten. ...Until next time.

But it's got me thinking. I had better watch what I say. I had better NOT lead her to think XYZ will happen, when I will not, in fact, enforce XYZ. Because one day, they will call me on it. And then *poof* there goes my credibility. And trust me, that is not something I want to lose.

I truly AM VERY careful to NOT make empty threats. Most definitely!! But man oh man, if I'm not tempted at times to take the easy road of empty threats. But then, I'm always drawn back to a little memory of mine: I remember the first time I called my parents on a bluff where I knew they wouldn't dare follow through.

It was my birthday. Maybe my 5th? Maybe not.

Allow me to set the stage: Eating dinner at Nana's house. The birthday cake positioned strategically on top of the fridge. Suddenly, I came to a point in dinner where I had force-fed myself all the green vegetables I could stomach. Unfortunately, those 2 bites weren't enough to appease the big people. And I had already tried moving them around on my plate to make them disappear. Didn't work. Big People piled them back up. You know, to show me just how much I had to eat. I said I couldn't do it. They said, "Well then, if you don't eat them, you won't get any cake."

Now...I REMEMBER thinking this over in my mind. I REMEMBER looking up at the cake and thinking "They are sooo not telling the truth. It's MY birthday. They wouldn't dare to not let ME have any birthday cake. What SING to me and then excuse me while they dine on my cake?! I think not."

Yep, I am praying that my children take after their passive and agreeable father. Thanks for asking.

And Yes. I did get to eat cake. Without finishing those green things. *Score* for the kindergartener! I say this, not to diss my parents...but to highlight that I may have passed down the ol' bluff-calling honing device. And since Charis was successful at diverting attention off of her hair onto mine, I'm thinking I may have ALSO passed down the "I can talk myself out of anything" gene.

...I saw a friend today that I hadn't seen in a long time. Her reaction when watching Charis? "She's such a little Christin." Yessirreebob. I foresee fun times ahead. *laughing*