I Said No. All of the No.

I'm convinced that second children come equipped with an abundance of persistence because obviously you're already weaker than you were the first time around LET'S EXPLOIT THAT WEAKNESS. If my theory is wrong, don't tell me. I need to believe that there's a good reason Mila NEVER gives up. Her superpower is persistence and I should probably have that made into a shirt. Except, she won't wear shirts right now because only dresses are "outfits" why don't you understand?

Anyway.

Mila is not a quitter.

That is why it quickly became a problem when we had to be at Pittsburgh Mills at OMG ARE YOU KIDDING ME o'clock for a cheer thing. Alexis had a tumbling clinic and for some reason it started before the mall was open.

Oh. Wait. Who am I kidding? Pittsburgh Mills has like 4 stores at this point. It no longer qualifies as a "mall." It has plenty of odd sports complex-type places, though.

And candy machines.

OMG.

There are approximately 235130948 candy machines spread all throughout the place, including a giant one right next to the cheer/tumbling place. It was a weird giant candy machine that lets you pick out three kinds of candy and puts them in a cup, but only after shooting them through a bunch of tubes and such. It was very fancy is what I'm saying. Fancy with flashing lights and music and basically it was a Mila Device of Torture.

I'm not sure who was more tortured - her or me. She couldn't handle that I wouldn't buy her any candy and I couldn't handle that she wouldn't stop asking. Eventually I gave up on sitting and watching Alexis tumble because that stupid candy machine was about to be the byline on my tombstone.

So Mila and I went for a walk through the "mall." But none of the four stores were open, so it was just us and the long line of candy machines that apparently cover every square foot of the dumb place. Just as I was done saying "no" from one machine, another one would appear. And then another. And then another.

I set the world record on the most times a person has ever said "no" in less than an hour.

The good news is that some day all that persistence is going to pay off. I just have to survive it long enough for Mila to point her superpowers at someone else.