Conversations With Piper: Mini-Parenting

The other morning, Ryan spilled something while we were all sitting at the kitchen table having lunch. "Oh, shit," he said.
Piper looked at him. "Did Daddy say bad words? Yes he did. It was a bad word. I'm sorry, Daddy shouldn't say that," she said primly.
I totally cracked up.

One day I asked her do do something.
"No." She went back to playing.
"Piper, I'm not kidding. NOW."
She walked over to me and hugged me, then hung off my shoulder and put her face close to mine.
"I say no," she said, and grinned. "Do you know what that means, Mom? I just say no."
I was so flabbergasted I didn't even object when she went back to playing.

"You have to be careful," she said as I opened the oven to take the muffns out. "It's berry hot. Don't touch it."

"That's sharp," she said, pointing to the knives in the diswasher basket. "Very sharp. They all sharp. Be very careful, Mom."


Okay, kiddo. I'll be careful.