The Unsinkable Molly Vaughn

We all know kids are little sponges. But, boy does my Molly take it to the extremes. This sweet 3 1/2 year old can hear something one time and sooner or later I will hear it repeated. It will not always be repeated back to me, it may be to her little brother or someone else.  She is also head strong and opinionated. Very opinionated. Very head strong. Not really sure where she obtained these qualities, but I am sure there are many of you that could hazard a guess.


Molly's favorite thing to say these days is "I do it all my byself!" And she means it. She gets very upset if you try to help her do anything! She will also challenge you. She will take anything you say to her and turn it right back around on you. She will push you as far as she possibly can. And stubborn? Oh my. She once sat in time out for over 20 minutes because she wouldn't apologize to her Godmother for hitting her. When, finally, I let her out of time out to go to bed, she waited until I walked out of the room, out of earshot, to hug her Godmother and tell her how very sorry she was. Stubborn I tell you!

Molly is my middle child, 4 years younger than Abby and 17 months older than Zach.  However, she acts much more like an oldest child. She is dominant, commanding, over bearing as well as caring, loving and tender. She has the amazing ability to switch from one of these traits to another in the blink of an eye. I sincerely hope the man she ends up with one day is up for the ride, because just being the Mom of this child is quite a wonderful roller coaster of emotions and challenges.

This past weekend Molly had Bethanie (age 6) convinced she could put her in time out. On more than one occasion Julio and I would have to intervene when we'd hear Bethanie crying. When we'd inquire as to what was wrong, she'd tell us Molly was putting her in time out. We had to explain to Bethanie that Molly could NOT put her in time out. I really don't know if Bethanie ever did fully believe us. THAT, my dears, is the power and assertiveness of this little 3 year old!


A year or so ago my Mom and I were in the library and she spotted a book entitled, "Raising your High Spirited Child". Mom suggested I would need that sooner or later. Well, it's time.  But for all the battles with her, all the struggles, she just makes me laugh. She is bright, inquisitive and is so quick to figure things out (well, except how to "poopie" in the potty!). It's going to be quite a ride raising this child, but I look forward to (almost) every minute of it.