Only Sophia Would Do Something Like That

Maybe I would be more upset if I didn't know that Sophia is the child that is the most like me. It's frightening really. She is the spitting image of me as a child, she has the same temperament, and she is precocious and tenacious--just like I was as a child. My mother told me that people were afraid to babysit me because I intimidated them. Well, we have the same problem with Sophia. I know that I really shouldn't laugh at the naughty things she does and tell everyone about them like they're a good joke (but they are) because it puts fuel in her little mischievous fire. I just relate to her so well sometimes.

So, several weeks ago I sent Brian to pick up Sophia and Diamond from kindergarten. When he went to the classroom door to get the kids, he discovered that Sophia was not in class, but had been sent to the principal's office. He came to find out that Sophia had refused to leave the classroom when it was time to go to computer lab. She had a substitute that day, which she was not fond of, and she refused to go anywhere with her. She obstinately remained in her seat. There was nothing the teacher could say or do to get her moving. Finally, she said, "You can either go with the class to computers or you can go to the principal's office." Sophia stood up and replied, "I'll go to the principal's office." She marched down to the principal and sat in a chair across from him. He asked her why she was there and she answered, "Because I won't go to computer class today." He sat her down (btw, the principal is the nicest most loving guy around and all the kids are enamored with him and will do just about anything for his approval--not Sophia) and gave her a sucker and tried to get her to talk about it. When he asked her what was wrong, she explained, "My mom got mad at me this morning, my dad is leaving, we have a substitute--I don't like substitutes--and I just don't want to go to computers today." He coaxed and prodded and manipulated her. He thought he'd really made some headway and she would jump off her chair and run to the computer lab. Finally he finished his little shpeal and said, "So are you ready to go to computers?" "No," she stated very matter-of-factly, "I already told you, I'm not going today." The principal later told Brian that after that, he didn't know what else to say to her, he thought he'd really convinced her to go, but he had actually failed miserably. Brian explained to the principal, "The thing you have to know about Sophia is that she's smarter than rest of us."

Then, the other day we had a repairman come into our home to replace the furnace and do some duct work. He worked for the entire day and had his tools spread out down the hallway and had pretty much set up camp in the utility room in the basement. The kids had watched with interest for awhile, but then I put them all down for naps. After finishing some work upstairs, I heard a little Sophia voice talking to the repairman. I went down stairs to put her back to bed again, when I noticed that all around the repairman and around the furnace were many Little People toys, all of the kids toothbrushes, two tubes of toothpaste, and several empty toilet paper rolls. I started cleaning it all up, trying to remember if this mess had been here before the repairman came. No, I was positive I had cleaned up first. So, I turned to the repairman, "What happened? Did Sophia throw all these things at you?" "Uh, yeah she just kept throwing things at me. I didn't know what to do, so I told her she could watch me work if she'd quit throwing things at me." I couldn't believe it. I was so embarrassed. What possessed her to assail the poor repairman with a steady barrage of toys and random toiletries? Only Sophia would do something like that!