Stubborn, I mean Determined

My kids are stubborn, I mean determined. Is this genetic or did I teach them this trait? My father is stub...determined and so am I. Truly, I know there are worse things that they can be. This determination can get them through a lot, but why they have to pick some of the battles they do, I don't know that I'll ever understand. We'll just take yesterday as a for instance.

I pull out the letter cards that I had been working on with Kate before the morning sickness took over. She did fairly well--2/3 of the letters on the first try. But, I knew she knew some of the ones she missed. I had her pick out one of the missed letters at random. It was "D." This was one of the ones I knew she knew. Easy as I pie I assumed. All day long when I would pass the table I would pick it up and she said she didn't know. Any time she "tried" she said it was "U." FYI she knows the letter "U" and got it right twice yesterday.

Then guess what happens. Justin comes home. "Daddy look! It's a 'D.' Duh, duh, 'D.' Like Daddy."

Your kidding right?

Later I ask her and she says, "U." The same this morning. I wonder how many in that stack she missed that she really knows.

Then on to my sweet little Gabby. She was going to be my sweet, compliant child. Evidently that memo got lost. We went out for ice cream with some friends last night. She finished up fairly quickly and decided she wanted down. We were sitting at picnic tables outside, so I thought it would be fine to let her get down and see the baby in the stroller next to us (our friend's baby, not a stranger).

The little stinker tried to take off across the parking lot. She refused to be held, refused to sit on the bench, refused to stand on the sidewalk, and refused to sit in her stroller. We had to give up and abandon our friends in the middle of their ice cream. Screaming child in my arms flailing and red faced--her not me (I promise).

I hold out hope that Gabby is just testing her bounds and will return to her content little self one day soon. But as for Kate, I think her stubbornness is here to stay. I just hope that she uses it to accomplish wonderful things and lead a productive life. And hopefully by the time she's 13 she'll have found something wonderful that she can be stubborn, I mean determined, about other than wanting to do the opposite of what I want.