I think we may have trouble on our hands. . .

and she is eight months old. You can just tell when something is going to be trouble. You know what I mean. . .the funny sound your car has been making, the dark storm clouds on the horizon, the look of mischief in her eyes when you tell her "NO!". Like I said I think we may have trouble on our hands. We have been trying to teach Mia to leave things alone (like magazines, specifically, and the trash) and she will not do it. We start by saying her name to get her attention and then tell her "NO" in a firm voice and she just smiles and sometimes even giggles. She thinks it is even more humorous when her Dad does it (if he was telling me NO I would definitely stop!!!). How on earth are we going to get this kid to behave without beating her? Recently her two favorite toys are magazines (to eat) and the trash in the kitchen trash can (also to eat). The other thing is the animal crackers. Mia gets them as a snack and she gets the cookie goo EVERYWHERE! I know I should just put her in her highchair, but I don't like to fight with her (remember she is only 8 months old, how could I win?). So the cookie goo is everywhere and she is tearing up all the magazines in the house and eating paper out of the trash, see I told you TROUBLE. There are some of you out there that told me "oh, as she gets older it will just get easier" you forgot to mention that the age you were talking about was 21! Despite the mess and wads of chewed paper I keep confiscating I have to admit that Mia is very entertaining. I can already tell that this one has got a PERSONALITY. She "dances" at the coffee table and so far her favorite music is RAP (great). PERSONALITY. Her favorite toy (besides the above mentioned) is a RCA cable. PERSONALITY. She clicks her tongue on the roof of her mouth while she plays. PERSONALITY. She screams bloody murder when she sees my hair dryer. PERSONALITY. She puts her pacifier in her mouth UPSIDE down. PERSONALITY. She smiles and "poses" when she sees the camera pointed at her. What a personality. I can't wait to see what she does next, but not until after my nap!