that's what the mama in the amazing kid's book Olivia says to Olivia, who truly is a trying little pig with pizzazz. since BS had a conference today, BC and i went to the national gallery today for a kid's program where they read the book, talked about the art olivia liked (ballerinas by degas) and hated but tried to emulate later on her own wall (lavender mist by jackson pollack). we met bc's buddy julia and her mom, a smart and fun lady. after hearing the tale and talking about the art, we went and found the pollack picture (BC was the first kid to find it!), after which we perused the delightful work.

Teacher to Kids: Why do you think the painter dripped his paint on here?

Me to Julia's Mom, sotto voce: Because he was drunk.

Teacher to Kids: The painter left some handprints on the painting. Why do you think he did that?

Julia's Mom to Me: Because he was a falling-down drunk.

as you can see, we are paragons of behavior. role models non parielle. after that, the kids had a little craft project to make their own “pollock” works. with yarn. at least it wasn't dirtying up my clean floor.

later in the day, BC, in no particular order:
1) used up all of the Barbie band-aids, plastering them all over her body;
2) took the cherry liquid bath soap and squirted it all in the tub (“but i didn't do it!”)
3) basically ignored everything i asked her to do.

gee, BC, are you trying to wear me out?