"You dozy doughnut, I going to put you in my SUPPER POT!"

[frogs]

...said dd2 this morning, in response to dh's mild request for her to remove her feet from the breakfast table.

Surely there must be commercial potential for a child this lippy? Criminal mastermind, perhaps? The 'before' section of a Tanya Byron parenting video? Or maybe we could set her up with a business running assertiveness training classes? Or (oh god) do we just have to put up with it? And what the hell is it going to be like when she's 13?

Dh and I are both quite mild-mannered, as are our older two children. God only knows where this one came from. But on the bright side, she was almost completely non-verbal at 2. Now she's just turned 3, and never knowingly short of a come-back. So for all you parents of speech-delayed toddlers, there is hope. Or not.

[FLAMEinEckItsYuleAgain]

Similar experience here today...

I looked round my wrecked lounge and muttered that I was in hell. DD piped up "Its not hell!" So I asked if she knew what hell was...

She pondered for a minute and said "Mine and Memry's toys?" (also a barely speaking 2 yr old, now 3.6)

[Beksmum]

Frogs lol I think your daughter and my son should meet, my boy's nearly 5 and is never short of a smart alec comeback but then again he gets it from me so I can never really complain - perhaps we should write them all down and publish a book of kids funniest comments - we'd make a fortune! Beks

[frogs]

Now what I was really hoping for is some nice anecdotes about lippy toddlers from hell turning into sweet compliant teenagers...

[myrrhthamoo]

When my brother was about 5 he was being extremely uncooperative when getting dressed - wouldn't be 'helped' and got in a tangle with his sweater. My Mum said to him "oh, you are a nutcase sometimes" to which he replied "And you're a suitcase. With a gun in it."

It's gone down in family lore as the ultimate in insults

[myrrhthamoo]

(oh and he's quite sweet now...at 35 )