Too Hard

Everything with Baby Girl right now is "I can't," or "It too hard."  Who knew laziness could strike at such a young and innocent age?  It must be her 12-year old brother wearing off on her as he nears the lazy teenage years.

She was whining this morning that she wanted to go outside.  That is a whole other battle.  She wants to be outside constantly.  She is only allowed out with her brothers or me.  Big Sis isn't quite grounded enough to keep an eye on her.  Since we live on the same side of the street as three other family members, she has acres to explore and discover.  So while she was begging to go outside, I told her she had to clean up her Legos first.  (This future architect strews Legos and building blocks around the house multiple times each day.  It's time that she starts cleaning them up by herself.)  I was met with the answer.  "It too hard." 

Trying to bring out the peppy, good mom who is somewhere inside me, I said, "No, it's not too hard.  You can do it.  Do you need some encouragement?"  She shook her head yes.  I began chanting, "Go, baby, go!  Go, baby, go!"  It worked.  She was like a runner who got her second wind after hitting a wall.  She started picking up Legos with a big grin on her face.  But, being the monkey she is, she was picking them up with her feet, not her hands.  I ran to get the camera and started snapping pictures, despite the unclothed state she was in. 

I left to return my camera to the bag and noticed that the exuberant clean up project was slowing down. 

5 minutes later, it had ceased completely. 

So right now, she is upstairs, playing and yelling at one of her siblings.  She thinks she won this battle, but my little monkey will not be going outside until she picks up the Legos.  I'm standing firm on this one.