Tangle

She's a wild tangle of a little girl, who on most days is more interested in keeping up with her brothers than anything.

Ellie has the occasional tea party, which is crashed joined by her brothers... but most of the time, she's following their lead. That means, if the boys are playing with trucks, then Ellie is playing with trucks. (Or some other roughhouse version of boy stuff.)

She's always worked hard to keep in step with those big brothers, but until our exchange tonight, I didn't understand just what that meant to Ell.

Ellie: "Mama, am I a good boy?"
Me: "You're a good Girl, Ell."
Melancholy Ellie on the Verge of Tears
Me: "What's wrong?"
Ellie: "I want to be a good BOY!"

(I make a conscious effort to catch the little people making good choices... and obviously, I point that out to them... But I didn't realize it sounded so much like praising a dog.)