Betty the Unsqueaky Wheel

So many days I feel guilty for my dear Betty Boo. She is never really the centre of attention because I'm always dashing off one way or another to sort Cyclone, talk to a tradie/schoolteacher/sibling/teenager whilst she sits quietly drawing.
I do my best in the small amounts of time we have alone to do girly things together but I worry it's not enough.

Sometimes she is well and truly being sick of being in the background and she gives me hints by climbing onto the table during dinner to sing I'm A Little Teapot or can't go to sleep because "my face is green".

I always thought she was just a Zen child. She seems to take everything in her stride with an ethereal smile - I've finally realised this is a very deliberate act. She doesn't want to be the squeaky wheel getting all the attention, it's not conducive to getting up to no good. Or getting revenge and stuff.



Butter hands, butter feet, butter legs. She managed to do this when I was making bread rolls right across the bench from her. A whole stick of butter.

She isn't like other kids - having to wait till mummy is on the phone till they draw on the walls she can do it when I am right in front of her.

I should have known there would be more to the Zen act when she was only 18 months old. Cyclone used to torment her and she didn't seem to mind. Then one day as I was emptying the bin and I found one of Cyclones favorite toys. I would find them in there quite often. So she never did take it lying down, my Betty Boo would wait until no one was looking and calmly toddle to the bin and dispose of a toy train or two....

Non violent resistance at its best?