Words words words, vol. 2
So the child just got her first swat in about four months, after digging three or four times in my beading supplies bag - which, aside from fragile and/or easily unstrung beads, contains numerous poking/cutting/pinching implements. The first two times, she got explanation plus an attempt to shift her attention; the third time, she was looking directly at her father and daring him to do something about it. Hence the butt-swat.

Which was why we wound up with a Babycuda parading around the bedroom and declaiming "...and I have a bag and I push and pull in it and if Mommy wants to play with it I say NO!! and take it away 'cause it's MY bag and I carry it." At length. In detail. I gave her a short string of beads to play with, and she further salved her wounded pride by refusing to let me touch them.

Meanwhile, it's been forty-five minutes, we just put her to bed, and I distinctly heard "..and I put them in MY bag and carry around." She's got a whole dialogue going with stuffed animals asking to play with her nonexistent beads as she gleefully refuses them.

And I thought I held grudges...