Alexa's Plea Deal

I will not be surprised if Alexa becomes a lawyer when she grows up; this little girl tries to negotiate everything! I feel like I'm in the midst of "let's make a deal" whenever Alexa has her mind set on something.

Tonight we went to Toys-R-Us to pick out a birthday present for her friend Emma, whose birthday party we'll be attending tomorrow afternoon. On the way there, I let Alexa know that we were going there solely for the purpose of getting a gift for Emma - nothing else. She happily agreed, but unbeknownst to me, she was plotting her strategy for finagling a new toy for herself.

As soon as we entered the store, she shot me "the look" and asked if she could have one thing. I reminded her why we were at the store and what we had agreed in the car, but that didn't prevent her from offering her first proposal - that I could buy matching presents for her and Emma so they could play together.  I quickly ix-nayed this office and corralled her to the doll aisle to select the gift for Emma.  She persisted and proposed an alternate idea of buying her something as an early birthday present (her birthday's March 5th).  After I rejected her second idea, she was getting frustrated and began talking aloud to herself.  After a couple of minutes, she came forward with her third and final proposal - she could use the money in her piggy bank to buy something.  Despite my best efforts to explain the value and importance of saving money, we left with a $5 ribbon streamer (like the one used in rhythmic gymnastics).

If she's negotiating this well at three years-old, I can only imagine what her teenage years will be like. It's a good thing we'll have Granty watching over us - maybe he can help his mom out. :)

"The Look" - - always up to something!