I have a strange love hate relationship with 3-4 year olds. I love that they learn at phenomenal rates but hate that they seem to be empowered by such knowledge in a way that leads them to be openly defiant. Bella and I have had multiple discussions daily about this matter. I tell her she's not the boss, she disagrees.  Part of me wants to let her forge her way in the world as is to just see how far she'd get. 

Last night we get home from a double header in bball and my lovely husband has dinner ready and waiting for us.  Since the scrimmage was at the same time as Kiera's dance class- my neighbor and I swapped kids-she took the girls to dance and I took the boys to basketball. I returned her son and went back home. The girls were streaking around the house naked and freshly bathed. I started to wipe down the counters when Bella presents me with half of Lily's hearing aid. Oh crap. Fortunately it is the more expensive half- but the ear mold is missing and that part takes weeks to replace.  Where's the other part? I ask.  Bella looks at me- in the toilet. Where's Lily? - in the bathroom.  Is she getting the other half? - No, her flushed it. AAAAAGH.

Lily creeps around the corner with that tail between her legs kinda look.  Where's your hearing aid? It fell and I flushed it- I already...(she mimes flushing and shrugs.)  She is already parking herself in timeout as I embark on my tirade about hearing aids do not belong in bathrooms unless they are attached to ears.  Phil takes over lecturing while I go to see if the ear mold portion of the hearing aid can be salvaged. He seems to be a little more understanding than me- but that is probably because he threw away a retainer or two in his day. Bella skips along beside me rolling her neck and babbling about Lily being in trouuuuuuu-ble. She likes being the bearer of bad news especially when the bad news is one of her siblings.  Probably because it's usually her and they're the ones chanting ....you're in trouuuu-ble.  I scan the bathroom, hoping to see the little purple glittery ear mold. Nothing. I look in the toilet- clean as a whistle. Phil joins me. He declares that if it was in the toilet, it is gone. What is it- declare the obvious day?   He picks through the trash, I look in the tub. I squat down to look behind the toilet and a glimmer catches my eye behind the leg of the stepstool over by the sink.  Please be it, please.....Aha! I look at Phil and grin. Here comes the fun part of parenting.

Wet your arm- I tell him. No- you wet YOUR arm! he tells me and looks disgustedly at the toilet. I turn on the faucet and run my arm under it. Splash me, he says. I spray water all over him. You ready? He asks. I nod. Act scared.  We both start screaming- almost there! he yells. I put the aid in his hand and he propels himself into the hall- combat roll style. I flush the toilet and come around the corner dripping.  Lil Phillip has caught on and is laughing hysterically- he after all has our sense of humor. Lily's eyes are huge and we hand her the aid.  She looks from my dripping arm to Phil's wet face and scrunches her nose. Hopefully the message learned is -do not take hearing aids in the bathroom and not- mom and dad are the coolest ever and can fix anything so let's keep challenging them.