Let me share with you a short excerpt from an email I received today:

"It is extremely irresponsible of you to allow your child to place dog bones in her mouth . . . No wonder she's always sick."

Go ahead, go back up there and read it again.

Now I'll give you a second to think about that one.

Ready?

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

Sorry, but that's seriously what happened when I first read it. I laughed and I laughed and I laughed. Anybody that has kids could probably figure out why. "Allow." That little word is just so darn funny. I mean, of course I "ALLOW" her to chew on dog bones. Actually, I encourage it. I search all over the house for one that's nice and slobbery and just shove it in her mouth. I "allow" her to chew dog bones just like I "allow" her to climb on the kitchen table, eat baby wipes, bite the cat, and tell me "no way" when I ask her to do something.

News flash--Babies are born with minds of their own. They will do what they want to do when they want to do it. It takes a while before they begin to actually understand the concept of no. Frankly, I know some adults that still don't understand it. I would say that Alexis is beginning to understand it. She has to be endlessly reminded that some things aren't allowed, but she still will try to do them just to see if the rules have changed. Given the fact that she's 22 months old, I find that behavior to be pretty much expected.

You know what behavior isn't to be expected? The Bulldog's. You see, Alexis stole that bone straight out of the Bulldog's mouth. That video clip was an excerpt of a longer clip showing Alexis trying to steal her bone, me fussing at her to leave the dog alone, and Meg happily giving the bone up. A split second before the dancing started, I was praising Meg for being so patient. If I had been the one taking the bone from her, I would have had to leave a few fingers as a deposit. Praising her was more important at the moment than keeping track of what the Crazy Toddler was planning to do with her bounty.

(Now that I'm thinking about it, it's a good thing Alexis stole Meg's bone and not Jasmine's. Because of her build, I can guarantee that Bully Baby can't lick her own butt. So her mouth and bone are theoretically a million times cleaner and less gross than the fuzzy one's. I've seen what she does in her spare time.)

As for the remark about her always being sick--no she's not. She is right now thanks her re entrance to daycare. I think it's reasonable to expect that dunking her in the petri dish that is daycare will have germy side effects. I don't like it, but I figured it would happen. Actually, she's been pretty skilled at dodging the illness bullets in her short life. A little over a year ago, the flu tore through our daycare. She was the one and only baby that didn't catch it. Not that it matters. After all, all kids spend a decent portion of their lives with colds. That's what happens when you put them in rooms together, playing with the same toys, breathing the same air, and rubbing their grimy hands on one another.

It happens just like this:

I think this photo captures the exact moment when Alexis passed her germy goodness on to her cousin Tyler. I know, I know, how dare I allow her to give her cousin a hug goodbye.

Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go see if I can convince Alexis to stick her tongue in the Bulldog's mouth. Again.