When this week’s Robin’s Chicks article ran, I saved the paper for my husband to read when he got home. I had it folded open on my desk and Aubrey noticed my picture in the paper.
“HEEEEEEEY,” she whined, “I wanna be in the newspaper!!!!”
Me: Oh, you are.
Aubrey: No, I’m not!
Me: Yes you are, baby. More than you know.
Aubrey: WELL, I want a BIG picture of me in the paper.

Indeed.

My in-laws are here for the Fourth and the girls are having a great time visiting with their grandparents, aunt and uncle. Last night at dinner Aubrey walked up to her Uncle Zack at the dinner table and said, “UH…can you be excused? I wanna wrestle you.”

As usual I’m sitting at the computer working/not-working (aka Facebooking) while my kids play. Out of the clear blue sky Aubrey says, “Momma, who you send Facebooks to?”
Me:(OH-MY-LANTA! Stunned into silence…how does my four year old KNOW FB exists?) Uhh, um my friends I guess…
Aubrey: What-ev-er (complete with an eye-roll, no less.)

Lord help me, when this child hits her teens.

Me: Girls, your dinner is getting cold. Go sit down and eat.
Aubrey: (In a very high-pitched, I’m-better-than-you-voice) I am a Queen. And Queens don’t eat dinner.
Me: Whatever….

Today I took Aubrey (4) and Emma (3) to the water park with our bestest friends from Savannah, Georgia. We haven’t seen them in almost two years so it was great to catch up with my friend Gena and to see her two boys. They came in the house to play briefly while we waited for the water park to open.

On our way to the water park the conversation went something like this:
Aubrey: Momma, those boys WRECKED my room…
Me: They are your FRIENDS, and I think they had some help wrecking your room.
Emma: Yeah.
Aubrey: Momma, those boys are so messy.
Me: They are your FRIENDS, Aubrey. Remember?
Aubrey: I think they forgot. Boys forget everything, Momma. Like my Daddy…
Me: What are you talking about?
Aubrey: Daddy’s cell phone. (OK, so it had been missing for a couple of days…Emma found it last night…in the toy box.)
Emma: Yeah.
Aubrey: Momma, if those boys don’t clean up my room are you gonna open up a can?
Me: Say, WHO?
Aubrey: IF THOSE BOYS DON’T CLEAN UP MY ROOM ARE YOU GONNA OPEN UP A CAN?
Emma: YEAH!
Me: (Um, oops…) I think we can handle it by ourselves….
Emma: Yeah.

After a LOOOOOONG day of playing, cleaning up her own messes and spending a considerable amount of time in time out, Aubrey curled up in her Daddy’s lap with her blankie and said, “I wanna be a baby and just drink formula and booby milk all day long.”

It’s hard being four…so many responsibilities.

Last night the girls and I made a chocolate layer cake, just because we could. They ate a really healthy dinner and were both allowed to have a small slice afterward. This morning Aubrey climbed in bed with me REALLY early, before 6am, not sure exactly of the hour but it was still dark outside. I was sleeping with my earplugs in but heard a muffled something about Emma eating “that chocolate cake.” I think I grunted and rolled over to go back to sleep.

After dinner tonight, Aubrey came running out of the bathroom and said, “Momma, it was me that ate that chocolate cake, I was just lying to you.”
Me: (trying to remember what exactly she was talking about) Oh.
Aubrey: It wasn’t Emma, Momma. It wasn’t! It was just me and I ate it with my hand and I’m very sorry.

Good to know if I’m not smart enough to catch her, she at least has a conscience!