I am contractually obligated to take Mila to a playground at least once per week. I believe I get a bonus if I hit five times in one week, so basically I do my best and Mila keeps letting me be in her life. That could change at any moment.
On this particular day, I was in Mila's good graces because I took her to her favorite playground. It has lots of slides, plenty of swings, and the ground is "squishy." That's important because children who are not afraid of the world tend to crash into it.
Mila was doing her usual thing - running and jumping, climbing and sliding, and generally showing the world what carefree and happy looks like. She's so good at it. So very good.
Or at least, she was, right up until HE happened.
HE was a little boy who was probably two or three years older than Mila. He was also running and jumping, climbing and sliding, but instead of throwing joy into the world, he seemed mad about something or other. I don't know what. I don't actually care. I was there to bask in happy, so that's what I was doing.
But then Mr. Angry Face decided he OWNED one of the slides. He stood at the top and struck a dominant pose. Armed crossed over his chest, chin up, HE WAS IN CHARGE.
He's never encountered the force that is Mila, obviously.
The Tiny Human noticed that he was blocking a slide and promptly decided that was the best slide in the world. She was going down that slide and she didn't care. She stomped her way over there and began to slide past the boy.
He moved to block it better. "This is MY slide," he said.
I looked for an adult to interrupt whatever the nonsense was that was happening in front of me, but of course I couldn't find the adult that corresponded with the kid. That's always how it works, right?
No matter. Mila had things under control.
"It's my turn," she replied as she continued to nudge past.
"NO, IT'S NOT," he raised his voice in return.
There were two things that could happen in that moment. Mila could either rip his face off and continue on with her life or she could turn around and quietly walk away. Probably crying. Mila HATES to be challenged. It crushes her soul.
Buuuuuut ... no. She didn't let anything crush her soul, nor did she go all Hulksmash. In fact, I'm still stunned at her quiet and assertive response. "I feel you should let me have a turn," she quietly responded.
It was so powerful. Quiet, assertive, matter-of-fact. But it had a heaping pile of threats behind it. It was as if an army of hundreds of angry girls had lined up behind her and she was just waiting for an invitation to tell them to attack.
The little boy (wisely) chose to back down. Crisis averted. Nobody had to resort to doing anything that would get them in trouble.
But now I'm even more fearful of the Tiny Terror. She's figuring out how to harness her powers. I'm in sooooo much trouble.
