We should have named her Lola

That's right.

Like the song.

Oh come on... you know the song....

Whatever Lola Wants......Lola Gets...

Our baby girl is almost two and she wakes up most days with a 3 step plan to take over the world. Step one is to take out Mama.

Me.

That's right.

My husband calls her a high-maintenance terrorist.

I'm pretty sure she can leap small buildings in a single bound.

We used to have a no-negotiating-with-terrorists policy. Which meant with the older 3 kids, we didn't give in to their demands.

We have completely given into Lola. She'll come in the room and ask for her 'bobbi' (bottle). I'll tell her she can't have it right now. She'll ask again in a slightly louder tone. I'll politely tell her she can have it later. She screams, 'BOBBI!!!!" and we are all scrambling to fix her bottle so she'll be quite.

Go ahead and judge. I know I used to.

I would see people at a restaurant with their kids. They would leave and the table underneath was a wreck and my husband and I would shake our heads and proclaim that we would never, under any circumstances, leave such a mess.

Yeah right.

When we had a 4, 3 and 2 year old eating out, we would always be appalled at everything that ended up on the floor. We did our best to discreetly clean up our humble pie, leave a huge tip and exit as quietly as we could.

So go ahead. Judge away.

But really, that's not the best part. The best is that she has learned how to get out of her crib. And she politely declines to sleep in the very cute Pottery Barn Green Daisy themed twin bed I have for her. (I would like to take a moment and thank Craigslist and all the parents out there who upgrade the theme of their child's pottery barn room after only having it a year) And if we shut her in the room with the childproof handle on the inside, she cries for hours on end.

So we have just decided to let her wander around the house at bedtime until she gets so tired that she falls asleep.

And we go find her and carry her to bed.

I realize we have fallen far into the depravity of parents who have no boundaries with children. We are working on a plan, I promise. But there are days where I think it would be easier to just let my children be happy and not worry about their character one bit.

We really thought that the 4th kid would be the easiest. She would be easy going, laid back, have a desire to obey and please her parents.

Nope.

Our 4th kid is 5 years younger than the next sibling and she acts like a first born. Fortunately God made her so stinkin' cute that she might just make it through the next couple years based on her cuteness alone.

And this is what I am going to put on the wall of her bedroom.

Very fitting, don't ya think?

_______________________________________________________________

Update: 8-23-11

Lest you feel that we have totally given up on parenting our 4th, I wanted to put in an update that we have been working on setting boundaries with her and also putting her in her big girl bed at her 8:30 bedtime. The first night we stood quietly outside her room and put her back in bed everytime she came out. After 27 attempts at escape, she finally decided to sleep the night in her bed. The second night only took 17 attempts and last night, after 5 attempts to leave her room, she stayed in bed and slept there all night! There may be hope yet. For her and us!