Mom told me I should make a record of the following stories. Plus, I guess Matt & Mary Ann haven't heard them:

1) Isabella had her friend birthday party last Saturday. She was a little snotty. At least to me. When Megan and Josh were ready to take her home, I asked Isabella for a hug goodbye. Here's how it played out...

Me: "Isabella, can I have a hug and kiss goodbye?"

Isabella (emphatically): "NO!"

Megan (scoldingly): "Isabella, Aunt Katie has done a lot of stuff to help for your party. You should say thank you and give her a hug."

Isabella: "NO!"

Megan: "OK, well I guess she just won't give you your presents tomorrow."

Isabella's attention was somewhere else until that last statement. She whipped around and ran over to me and said all in one breath, "Thank you for helping with my party bring my presents to my house please."


2) The day after our family birthday party I decided to eat a piece of leftover chocolate torte. It's like the best dessert ever. Isabella wanted a piece of her own, but the dessert is very rich and I didn't feel comfortable giving it to her without Megan's permission. Trouble was Megan was on the phone. I offered Isabella some of mine, but apparently that wasn't good enough. She waited until I had about a 1x2 inch section of cake left. Then she said, "Well, maybe just a little bite." She took my fork out of my hand, stabbed the leftover chunk and tried to stuff it in her mouth. That didn't really fly with me, but it was kind of cute.