pride issues

On Friday, before taking the girls to their dad, we stopped at the mall so Tayler could get some new shoes.  And since we were there I figured we'd just hit the food court for dinner so I didn't have to stop again after we hit the road.

Cali has had, recently, an obsession with those Dorito taco things at Taco Bell and she was begging to go to Taco Bell for dinner.

We were already stopped at the mall.  I tried to convince her that the cool thing about eating at the mall food court, is that you don't all have to have the same thing.

The other girls quickly chose Panda Express, and I let Cali wander around to see what there was and to see if anything caught her fancy.  She finally settled on Panda too. 

The thing about Cali is that she is Stubborn with a capital S.  And probably the T and U should be capitalized too.  That girl really knows how to dig in her heels and resist.  This can be a problem when I'm trying really hard to just feed the kids and get on our way and she's not at all happy with the fast food place that I've chosen.  She doesn't want anything there.  She doesn't know what she wants.  So instead of bucking up and trying to chose something that she can tolerate, she just shuts down and won't say anything.

Silent protest.

It has now gotten to the point that when she does this, I simply tell her that she will be ready to order by the time everyone else is finished ordering, or she just won't get anything, because I can't stand there, with the guy at the cash register looking impatiently on, for her to stand there and not say anything.  And she won't say anything either, so waiting does no good.

She's only been without dinner once.  She learned.

So I was beyond relieved that even though she was pouting about wanting Taco Bell, she was still cooperating and ordering food.

Until we got to the drinks.

The child shut down over a choice of drink. 

Since it came with the meal she had ordered I told her that if she didn't say what she wanted then I would just pick and be done with it.

She stayed silent.  She refused to speak.

So I picked her drink for her and we found a table.

And this is how she sat for the time that we ate, not even touching her food.

I have pride issues.  And I've come to learn that in life, no one can beat the pride out of you faster than your own children.  But sometimes, sometimes you have a right to your indigent feelings.  Sometimes those kids need to learn lessons on backing down in the pride area too, it's not just me who needs to learn this.

Frankly, I'm thankful for Cali's stubborn pride because I believe that's what kept that little girl going during my high risk pregnancy with her (here).  She dug in her unborn heels and wasn't having anything to do with not being born healthy.

But over a drink...  She told me she just couldn't decide.

Cali, when you can't decide then you just pick one.  You don't say I can't decide and then don't.

Heaven help me when this girl is a teenager. 

But do you know what?  This girl is going places.  I can feel it.

I couldn't imagine life without her.

Does Vernal count? We're headed there right now!