Samantha is earning stickers for prizes when she stays in her bed all night.  She’s really been working hard, but the other night, we were out on a date when she went to sleep (she visited our room about nine times before morning).  When she tried to put a sticker on her chart the next day, Matt was having none of it.  That’s how it came about that our three-yr-old provided the perfect case study for female communication patterns:

Matt:  Sam, you came to our room a lot of times last night.  No sticker this time.

Sam: But I love you both.  I was just missing you guys.

Matt:  We love you , too Sam, but the stickers need to be put away.

Sam (yelling): But there’s all these things in the world!  I have to do that! (She turns, runs into the back room, and slams the door.)

Matt is confused.  He looks at me, and asks, “Three, really?  Three?  Does she know she’s only three?”  When Sam returns, he tries again to explain why she cannot have a sticker; and Samantha turns right back around, slamming the door behind her. 

I decided to help the guy out.  I counseled Matt to just hug her when she returned, tell her he understood she missed us, and that she could get a sticker next time.   The guy isn’t slow.  When she came back, he repeated this verbatim, and they cuddled for a minute. 

 That’s when he says to me: “I don’t think this will be a problem with Levi.”  He’s probably right.