Awwwww - she is so cute I just can not stand it sometimes!!! (and her shirt very appropriately says "Cute but Crabby")

Yeah but see what I mean here? This was her 15 minutes later after feeding herself her own yogurt.

Recently, we have entered that “so this is why God made toddlers so darn cute” phase. Its a very mischievous and disgusting time in a child’s life. There is lots of mess, lots of dirt, LOTS of attitude and lots of dipping our popsicle into a tub of sand and licking it (that’s a fun diaper the next day – let me tell you). Lilly does not seem to care if her nose runs all the way down to her toes and screams like I am personally destroying her if I make her stop playing long enough to change a dirty diaper. But on the flip side, it sure is cute watching her explore, seeing her reactions to things (guess what? That sand dipped popsicle does NOT taste so good after all), and watching her really learning to use her spoon and fork. She certainly does NOT like the word no and thinks she knows best, so as a general rule I sit back and allow her to learn some lessons the hard way – but ALWAYS with the camera good and ready. So here is a recent collection of Lilly’s finer moments posted for your entertainment (and my revenge):

Molly left a bottle of blue nail polish on the stairs. Lilly got the top off and drank some (as you can see on her lips) which resulted in my 3rd call to poison control this summer. She also got some on her jacket, and you can't see it because she is standing on top of it, but my stairs are now blue as well. I was carrying in the groceries in case you were wondering.

"Did you say you were looking for these batteries mom?"

Far be it from me to criticize, but if I was going to go as far as taking the package of cookies out of the gracery bag and going around the corner to open them so mommy would not hear me, I would NOT then bring that hard earned cookie back into the room my mommy is in to eat it. But that's just me I guess.

I mean really. Its just disgusting. Who is supposed to be caring for this little girl anyways!?

"I like to do this lately - aren't I cute? The world is neat upside down! Though my mom does not seem to think its so neat when I do it in a public restroom or in the sand box at the park"

I momentarily forgot that it is not really worth it to go to the bathroom anymore. 30 seconds is all I was gone and while I was in there I was even thinking, "Oh thank God she is not trying crawl into my lap for a change". I should have known.

We really can not figure out why she insists on holding the fork while she does this, but you do NOT want to try and take it away from her. trust me.

"you think you're so smart this time mom? Well I hope someone makes YOU sit on plastic on a humid day without any clothes on - then tell me how smart you feel!"

Also, the following sequence is a daily occurrence around here these days:

"oh MY! What a lovely tower of blocks you have built! You must have spent a long time on that!"

"But I will CRUSH IT! just like I will crush any hopes you might have of rebuilding it! MWAH HA HA HA HA HA!"

"And you have no choice but to forgive me because I am so darn cute. Admit it! "

And one more – because even though she has her moments, she DOES try to pitch in and help where she can

"I'm helping! Just stay out of my way when I turn around because I don't really have much control over the top foot or two of this broom handle...."