"Much as I do"

Eden and Daddy had a nice conversation last night while they were water color painting.  Obviously, from this conversation you can glean that I am NOT the fun parent.  lol 

Let's start at the very beginning.  Last night Eden and I went on the search for her gift for a present to take to her gift exchange at "school" next week.  She drew Sam's name and so we were looking for boy toys.  I took her to the Dollar store thinking that we might be able to find a cheap option that was in town to boot.  I had both girls in tow and so Eden was being trusted to walk around close to the cart.  

We had been down the lone aisle of toys without success when we headed towards the check-out with a $1.00 water color and some holiday cupcakes.  Note: we  hadn't had supper yet.  Eden immediately eyed the candy section at the counter while we were waiting in line and I said to her "now remember, we don't need candy cause we got our cupcakes".  With her back to me, she intently looked at the candies, touching every section.  Every few moments I would remind her "Eden, leave the candies alone.  We've got cupcakes for dessert."  She seemed to be listening, but I was still nervous and between getting my wallet out, I kept a watchful eye.  I thought I'd seen her grab a piece of something in her  hand out of the corner of my eye and said slightly louder this time, "Eden...NO candy."  I must have startled her, as she spun around.  I began to repeat my story again when all of the sudden her appearance really sunk in as I realized she wasn't speaking to me or arguing.  Turns out there was a logical explanation for the lack of talking.  There she stood, in the middle of the candy holding a wrapper.  I looked and frowned thinking she had picked up a wrapper off the floor.  I began with "Ewww...Eden..", when I realized why she wasn't talking.  Her mouth was so full she could barely chew.  Seeping from her lips was the melted chocolate from the truffle she had unwrapped and shoved into her mouth.  She twisted the wrapper between her fingers and managed a look in her eyes that said "Haha, I gotcha Mom".  I tried to contain my laughter, but did allow a little chuckle to escape before saying "Oh, Eden.  That was naughty.  Mommy had just told you NO candy.  You didn't listen to me."

Fast forward to later that evening when Christian came home from work late.  He was eating supper at the table while watching Eden paint water colors.  (That's right, I still bought it for her despite the candy crime) I was sitting in the living room feeding Isla and had just finished telling Christian about our wild Dollar store trip.  After I finished the story, Christian begins his Daddy talk with Eden.  "Eden, you know your Mama loves you.  She wants you to listen to her.  It makes me sad when you don't listen to her like that.  You know your Mama loves you, right?" She paused before looking up from her water colors and said "Yeah".  Continuing with his talk, "And you love her too, don't ya."  Eden frowned slightly and looked up at him and said "I don't like Mama sometimes."  Christian held back his chuckles and repeated her, trying to clarify.  "You don't like Mama sometimes?" Then, going back to her water color Eden said matter of factly, "Yeah...as much as I do.  I don't like her sometimes".  Christian, now confused said "as much as you do...what?"  Then she was crystal clear, "Love her.  As much as I love her, I don't like her sometimes."  Christian clearly wasn't my advocate as he burst into laughter.  LOL