Little stinkers

It's amazing how much Madeleine now understands. Not only did she bolt towards the bathroom and start trying to pull off her clothing after she heard Julia say, "Daddy, it's a bath night," the other day, but today when I got home from work, after Julia reported to me, "Mom, I only watched one 'Curious George' while you were gone," Madeleine toddled over to the television and began attempting to turn it on, squealing in desperation at me, and crying heart-brokenly after I told her Curious George time was over. Luckily, I have taught Julia how to spell the word "milk" so that I can speak to her in code without setting Madeleine squealing towards the door of the fridge. Unfortunately, half the time Julia loudly asks me, "You mean milk, Mommy?" But we're getting there.

Julia has been extra contrary the past few days, which leads me to wonder if she's starting to come down with a cold, since her contrariness is in direct proportion to how she's feeling and how much sleep she is getting. Some of our more ridiculous interactions have been as follows:

JULIA: (from the toilet, as I put dinner on the table) Mommy, I only want you to give me one egg for dinner.
ME: Well, I made you two.
JULIA: But I only wanted you to give me one.
ME: Well, two is what you're having.
JULIA: Fine, I guess I'll just eat dinner in my room.
ME: (Ignoring her.)
JULIA: Mommy, I want to eat dinner in my room.
ME: (Ignoring her.)
JULIA: Mommy, I have to eat dinner in my room.
ME: (Still ignoring her.)
JULIA: Mommy, you want me to eat dinner in my room.
ME: (Silence.)
JULIA: Mommy, you said I have to eat dinner in my room.
ME: Julia, you are more than welcome to go to your room, but you may not eat dinner in there. We're eating dinner at the table.
JULIA: But I want to eat dinner in the bathroom. Mommy, you don't like me anymore. Mommy, you want to take me to the dump.

Uh, yeah, I kind of do when you act like that.

And then today:

ME: Madeleine, come here so I can change your poop.
MADELEINE: (Ignoring me.)
ME: Madeleine, come to Mommy.
MADELEINE: (Walking all the way over to me, grinning, and spinning around and toddling away.)
ME: Okay, forget it, I'm not playing games with you. You can sit in your poop then.
JULIA: No! Mommy! You can't let her sit in her poop! Mommy, change Madeleine!
ME: No, I'm not going to change her right now because I'm tired of her not listening to me. She can sit in her poop if she's going to ignore me.
JULIA: Mom. Then let me sit in my poop.

Okay. She can sit in her poop when I take her to the dump, I guess.