pointing fingers

each of my girls are quick to point out the faults in her sister, yet i don't think they realize their own shortcomings. it's really quite humorous, actually, hearing them tell on one another for something that the other said or did. just the other day, my holier-than-thou eldest child scribbled me a quick note on a post-it. it read (and i'm writing this in her own spelling) "i think ella just said damit". i had to laugh. not that my 3 year old had said a curse word (which may or may not be accurate; i decided not to confront her since i didn't hear it myself and because sometimes madelyn over dramatizes things), but because madelyn is so proper that she refused to say the word herself. so she wrote it instead. sadly, ella probably did let this profane word slip from her tongue, but that's another story.

although madelyn would never think of uttering such a word, what she does say (and oftentimes what she doesn't say) is sometimes just as bad, yet she doesn't realize it. madelyn has recently developed quite the attitude that i thought only teenagers possessed, and it frightens me that this personality trait will probably only worsen with age. the other night, madelyn was in the bathroom and i heard her talking so i innocently asked who she was talking to. the response i got was "none of your business!" and i can't begin to count on both hands the number of eye rolls, disgusted sighs, and evil glares of pure hatred that have come out of this otherwise sweet and adorable 7 year old.

i know the saying "what goes around comes around" is cliche, but it is so true. my mother smirks when i tell her stories about the girls because she's been there. three times, she's been there. but especially with me, the youngest child, she experienced every glare and eye roll and hateful word spoken in anger than i am dealing with now. so i actually think she delights in the fact that, on any given day, i'm ready to pull my hair out. believe me, i adore being the mother of my two amazing little girls, but i have to wonders sometimes...are boys easier?