Willpower

"I don't know how you do it," Agatha's toddler teacher began our conference by saying.

Oh my.

"You have some interesting years ahead of you," she continued. "She's a child who has definite ideas about how things should be."

I thought Agatha was my easy, agreeable child! And I still think she is... I just have only her brother to compare her to. Yes, I guess they are both rather determined.

Dotty and Sybil told me an anecdote about Agatha's will. She was washing her hands before snack time, and wouldn't turn the faucet off. The teacher reminded her to do so, and she refused. She wasn't allowed to have snack till she did so, so she just stood there, letting the water run, for five minutes. Finally a compromise was struck in which she placed her hand on the teacher's hand and they turned it off together. But: she hasn't washed her hands since. She just uses the little basin which is the alternative for less-able children.

Truthfully, I was surprised: that sounds like Henry to me, but less like Agatha. All the things that Henry used to dig in his heels about-- washing his hands, brushing his teeth, wearing clean clothes, even underwear (I still do an underwear inspection every morning!)-- Agatha is cooperative about. She's very chatty and loves to boss us all around, but she's basically easy to get along with. "She's just not one of those children who you can point in the right direction and they'll just keep going." Hmm. I guess that's right. "I can do it all by myself!" is certainly one of her most-used phrases at the moment. She's saying it right this minute, in fact, in regard to a banana that she plans to extract from the fruit bowl and peel herself.

Nope--no shortage of determination. Yesterday, Henry asked me to count as he jogged laps around the big brown chair in our living room. When he got to 30, he said, "I think I'll go to 100!" Which he did. When I suggested he must be tired after 100 laps, he said, "Not at all. I could do another 100." Which he did-- in the reverse direction.