Scrufferton

We call the little maniac Scrufferton because she spends most of her time struggling to see through her long wispy bangs. I try to pull them back, but she snatches clips out immediately. She looks rather sweet with a little ponytail on one side, but she starts shaking her head violently if she sees me coming near with a rubberband. I don't have the patience to battle it, so she looks like rather scruffy most of the time.

She has the busiest little hands of any child I've ever met. She can sneak out credit cards from the sides of a closed wallet. She once opened the coat pocket of a stranger, slipped her sneaky fingers in, and walked away with an iphone. The woman was shocked out of her mind when I returned the phone. So embarrassing. Her favorite place to pillage and plunder is the drug store, since everything is on her level and there are all kinds of tiny bottles and packages that can be easily snatched by tiny hands. If ever placed on the ground at CVS, she immediately loads up her arms with merchandise and then runs away from me as fast as her legs can carry her.

Ever since she was old enough to hold her head up, she has resisted snuggling. Until a couple of weeks ago, when she got sick and learned how to properly cuddle. Now she'll sit in my lap and cuddle multiple times a day and requests kisses routinely. I'm loving the affectionate side of Molly. I could snuggle her all day long.

She is a great eater, she'll eat almost anything and in large amounts. She expects to be offered a bite by anyone who is eating anything. After eating a man-sized portion of my dinner at our last church gathering, she made the rounds to the tables around us and begged off of any person who would oblige.

She has very strong opinions and will challenge anyone, including children who are much older and larger than her. She's actually quite rude to her friends, I'm trying to work with her on that. When she is chastised by me or Jack for doing something she knows she shouldn't, she will often give a defiant "No!", accompanied by a tiny wagging finger. I overheard her bossing Jack in the kitchen this morning after he removed her from one of the lower cupboards. He just laughed and said "You think you're a lot bigger than you are." A perfect description of Molly right now. She thinks she's three and she's actually not quite fifteen months old. I secretly love her little attitude and hope she stays this spunky forever.

I sent this video to Jack while he was at Sundance last week. We both missed him so much!