Little Miss Stubborn

That's our Cherub. She outdid herself this week after a minor snatching and sharing (or not!) incident with Best Friend N on Tuesday. When I told her to say sorry, she dug in her cute little heels  and refused. Consequence: I sent her to sit on the stairs until she was ready to apologise.

Two hours later ... and there she still sat. Different stairs by this time - the episode started at Grandma's, and after 40 minutes we walked home and took up again where we left off - but one small Cherub was still determined not to give in.

By now we were running out of time and options. We had alternately ignored and coaxed. N, bless him, had done his best to persuade her ("just whisper it in my ear, and then we can play ... nobody else has to hear"), but she was having none of it. Finally, we found a way out of the impasse. Cherub offered to write sorry**. N, who by this time really, really wanted to play, accepted gladly. With a bit of help - another minor battle here, as she insists she can both read and spell, determinedly disregarding all evidence to the contrary - she produced "Sorry N. xxxx Cherub" (the fourth kiss at N's insistence, after Cherub suggested three!).

Honour satisfied all round. But honestly ... two hours? Angel was very similar as a small child, another stubborn apology-hater, but when we had the exact same battle with her she was a little older and only managed to hang out for an hour. Yikes. What next?

** Don't be over impressed by this or imagine we are going in for early academics. She can write the letters in her own name plus a couple of others, all self taught. All three girls have been naturally early writers - Angel was writing more, earlier, and bizarrely went through a stage where she could write and spell simple words she couldn't read. I think it is mainly a function of them all having good fine motor control and hand-eye coordination.