I knew there was a reason...

Kindergarten-age girls have a lot in common with teenagers. The diva-like behaviors my own sweet princess has exhibited lately have left me alternately gasping with abject horror and wondering if she truly is the punishment for all of the attitude I gave my mother during my adolescent years.

She has lost two teeth in the last month or so, and has three more loose teeth, so her sassy soliloquies are now uttered in that distinct, lispy voice that only comes from having gaping holes where your fangs should rightly be. This lends a babyish but all-too-adult air to her conversations these days. From a parent's perspective, the constant spinning between behaviors befitting a toddler and a wisened grandmother is maddening and laughable and frightening, all at the same time.

This morning, however, my daughter woke up in the most pleasant of moods. She's everything that is good about age 6. She's huggy, and kissy, and Mom can we go pick apples at the orchard-ey, and hey Mom I brought you a cookie-ey(!!) and it's pure heaven.

A few minutes ago she was quietly working in the kitchen where I couldn't see her, and I became alarmed at her silence, wondering whether the sweet child had vanished and left a home-destroying demon-girl in her place. I asked her what she was doing in there, without the nerve to actually look, in case the ensuing mess was too much for my delicate sensibilities. She responded that she was just getting some water to clean the floor. Hmmm. Any parent will tell you that if a school-age child is cleaning it usually means a large mess has been created and they're now frantically trying to hide the evidence.

I put on a brave face and peered over the counter to inspect the damage, but there was none, save a few bits of soggy paper towel on the tile floor. I asked her what was on the floor that she needed to clean up. Her answer? "DIRT! Duh, Mom."

I'm glad one of us is concerned about eradicating dirt from the kitchen floor. I knew there was a reason we had kids!