The art of manipulation....

Drew is quite an intelligent little boy.  He knows shapes, colors, letters, he can count, etc.... but Anna Kate sure has figured out how to outsmart him. She can play him like a fiddle. Here is a little story for you...

Typically on week day mornings, they will wake up before I am finished getting ready for work. They will usually sit on my bed and watch Mickey Mouse (if they aren't doing this, they are tearing the house down).  For some reason, they have determined that the only location in which you can see our TV from is the bottom right corner of our bed. And they fight over who gets to sit in "The Spot" like cats and dogs.  Most mornings, we don't make it out of the house without this big argument over who gets to sit there, crying, yelling, someone falling off the bed and hitting their head, and me losing a little more of mind... all before 8:30am.  Anna Kate decided yesterday morning that she would really like to go get her puppy dog but she had already managed to snag "The Spot".  She was torn. I watched her as she thought through how she could make this work.  Well, we have a box in our room right now that is sitting in front of our dresser right next to the TV.  For the last week or so, whoever doesn't make it in "The Spot" will stand on this box to annoy the other one.  So, my little puppeteer gets down off of the bed and says, "Drew, this would be a good place for you to stand. Why don't you come stand here".  Well, my poor, sweet boy played right into her hand. He just knows that this is something that usually pushes her buttons so he hoped right up and climbed proudly on that box like he was doing something great.  Anna Kate ran to the living room, grabbed her dog, and ran back to see that her plan had worked flawlessly.  BUT... her brother almost foiled her. She got a bit cocky and ran back for something else. While she was gone the second time, he got down from the box and took command of "The Spot". When she came back in, I braced myself for a complete meltdown and the usual fight but she kept her composure, walked back over to the box, patted it and said "Drew, don't you think you want to stand up on here".  Again, the poor boy fell for it. It was almost sad. I saw the next 15 years (at least) of their lives playing out before me.  If Drew can manage to survive that sister of his, he will be able to deal with anything a woman can think to throw his way.  As for Anna Kate, she is wise beyond her years and it scares me! Well played little girl, well played!

Photographic evidence of the assault on the unsuspecting. It is blurry but you get drift!