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Dixie the Negotiator

The Culprit

Dixie has been honing her tactical negotiating skills as of late. A prime example involves a certain show popular among younglings called "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse". (On a side note, those Disney people are geniuses of the highest order in regards to their use of propaganda. Lil' Dixie, although not yet two years of age, is already a Disney addict!) Anyhow, each morning Dixie is able to watch an episode of "the Mouse". She will cuddle her Daddy in the bean bag and devote the entirety of her attention to that big eared rodent. Of course when it is time for the hot dog dance (an indication that the conclusion of the episode is approaching), she begs and pleads to be able to watch another. These pleadings have a decent success rate, although she is never able to watch more than two episodes during the morning.

The aforementioned pleadings are of course the most basic negotiating tool inherent in an two year old. However, Dixie is exhibiting a more advanced method of negotiating as of late. She realized that the afternoon is not a time that we allow her to watch "the Mouse", so she has developed different methods to achieve her goal of an afternoon cartoon. The other day she came up to Daddy, the weaker of the two parents as far as Dixie's charms are concerned, and fulfilled her aims in a most clever manner. She confidently held up her right index finger, looked her Daddy in the eye, and pleadingly said "One mouse, One mouse". Her Daddy, completely caught off guard by this new approach, quickly acquiesced to his daughter's demand. In order to feel like he still had some control of the situation, Daddy told Dixie that we could watch only one episode. To make sure she understood, Daddy asked Dixie how many Mouse's we were going to watch. Dixie's reply: Two!

Clever girl.

Mommy and Dixie watching the Mouse with Lulu napping