Chloe said the blessing on the food tonight and then said to me,

"Mom. What about the awful?"

And I said, "Uh...what do you mean?"

And she said, "Mom! WHAT. ABOUT. THE. AWFUL!!"

And I said, "You mean, do we pray for the awful people?"

And she said, "Yes! Do we pray for the awful people?"

And I said, "Yes. We pray for the awful people."

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I have been in search for Chloe's "currency" for awhile and I finally figured out what she cares about: Cailou and her toys.

So today we had the usual interaction and I told her she could not watch Cailou until her bed was made.

And that made her mad. And...well...she kicked me. So then I said, "Well, I am taking some toys away. You will have to earn those back too."

And I hauled a box of toys out to the garage.

4 year old mental breakdown.

10 minutes later I find her in the garage, cheerfully swinging Macie in her retired baby swing.

And then she says to me, "Mom. I'm just going to play with my toys in the garage. I am not going to take them in the house."

And she did. And you know what? I was totally fine with her spending some time in the garage.

But I suppose I am going to have to figure something else out next time because she is very good at finding my loopholes.