Who's the Betterest?

My Mimi, I had her trained when she was younger to announce that I was 29 years old. She would also answer a prompt of, "Tell them why we call you Mimi." Then she would say on cue, "'Cause it's me-me-me-me-me!" One day, she just quit saying it.

She was about three years old and she came up to me while eating a snack. I asked, "Where did you get that?"

"From the pantry," she answered in her cute little voice that sounded like she'd been sucking on helium.

"Did you ask if you could have that?" I asked.

She looks at her treat and says, "I asked myself and I said I could have some."

Clever answer, but I then ask, "Are you the momma?"

She tilts her head to the side in deep thought and says, "I'm the betterest momma."

Yep. I am in trouble. This is basically her personality in a nutshell. She can be my most loving child and my most hateful child at the same time. She has a competitive streak in her that she was born with. I think she gets that from her dad, because I don't have the energy or the self-esteem to compete with people.

One day when she was in preschool, four years old, I picked up the other little girl in our car pool and they were both dressed up beautifully for picture day. As soon as Bailey sat down in the mini-van Mimi asks, "Who do you think looks the prettiest?"

"I think you both look very pretty," I say, playing safe.

"But who's the prettiest?" she demands.

"You both are very pretty."

"But I'm your daughter, aren't you supposed to think I'm the prettiest?" pressing for her answer. I wouldn't give in. Sometimes I have to say, "It doesn't matter who is the prettiest, both of you are pretty" or "it doesn't matter who wins the game, as long as you had fun." She still asks questions like, "If you had to chose one daughter, who would it be, me or Ali." I then say, "I don't have to make that choice." "You love Ali more," she fishes or, "You think I'm dumb." I guess the good thing is I always know what she is thinking, no beatin' around the bush with her.