Ploblem

I was putting Violet down for a nap and she called me back before I could get to the door.  She always dreams up some kind of issue as soon as you walk away, a pretty standard stall technique.

For today's stall, she called me back and said, "Dad, I've got a ploblem?"

That took me a minute, but I got it.  "OK, problem.  What's your problem?"

"Problem, yeah," she said.  "I've got a problem."  Excellent stalling.

"OK, what's the problem?"

"My problem is that I have all these animal friends, but they're bad," she said, holding her stuffed monkey.

"They're bad?"

"Yeah.  They're bad," she said, looking really sad about it.

The only strategy is to fight irrationality with irrationality.  "Well, just give them a big, big hug!  That will make them good, right?"

"Yeah!" she said, and proceeded to crush her monkey in a hug of death.

"OK, have a good nap," I said and sneaked out before I could get roped into any more stalling.