So this is Lilah, the Red Ninja. If she wears this outfit with black pants, she calls herself the Red Ninja's bulldog. The Red Ninja is evil; his bulldog is good. Lilah herself is somewhere in the middle, and also, now, 6 years old. Amazing. Check out other flickr pictures of the birthday festivities and Halloween celebrations to see more of what's been going on, though nothing will quite capture the temper tantrum extravaganzas that have capped off the holidays for us. There was an article in the New Yorker recently about how children in picture books seem to be getting away with more outrageous behavior than in days of yore (e.g. Frances the Badger was threatened with spankings just for not going to bed, while Olivia the Pig paints the wall of her room Jackson Pollock-style and just gets a time-out.)
Well, Lilah puts this "new moderation" in discipline to the test. Sample lines, uttered full-voice on the front steps of our house:
"No! YOU compromise! If you don't do it, I'll never come inside! No! Not EVER! I don't CARE! I'm NEVER calming down!"
As she told me Friday morning, dressed in her birthday finery (mauve sweater, lavender sweats, purple flowered sundress over top it all), "Mommy, I know I'm six now, but I really usually still act like I'm only five."
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