The Little Girl With The Curl

There was a little girl who had a little curl

Right in the middle of her forehead;

When she was good, she was very, very good,

And when she was bad she was horrid.

-Nursery Rhyme

Marley has more curls than just a little one right in the middle of her forehead.  But, otherwise, she's the Little Girl with the Curl down to a tee. When she's good (as she is almost all of the time), she's very very very good. But when she's bad . . .

A small example is one time that Marley said she had to go to the potty. Beth was sitting with her in the bathroom and, before anything came out, Beth asked "Is this going to be a false alarm?"

Marley looked up and said "You wish."

A better example happened when we were sitting on a bench outside of Ben & Jerry's eating our ice cream.

Marley saw a Mister Softee ice cream truck on the corner and said "Mommy, I want some Mister Softee!"

An Upper West Side yenta sitting near Marley interjected "But you already have ice cream."

Without pausing or blinking, Marley took her ice cream cone and threw it on the ground. Problem solved.

She can be as cold as ice cream.

Anyway, Marley's very very very good moments outweigh those moments when she is horrid. And Marley knows this.

One night at bedtime, Beth was lying down with Marley. Beth looked at her and said, "Marley, you know, you're lucky . . ."

And Marley interrupted ". . . that I'm funny and I'm cute!"

To which I would only add ". . . and smart."