spooning leads to... well behaved children?

i like to eat my cereal with a big spoon.  delilah just had a conniption fit because i wouldn't trade my large spoon for her mini spoon.   when she finally calmed down and we had the proverbial "if you ask politely -- you shall receive" lecture, i gave her a spoon of equal value in size to mine.  she took one bite with that spoon and decided that she wanted a smaller spoon.  however, the original spoon she had been using was, TOO, small.

(i have a suspicion that i need to lay off my oral retelling of goldilocks.  maybe i'll switch to the pigs.  of course then i might come home to piles of sticks "built" into homes and she might wander about doing a lot of huffing and puffing.)

knowing where to find a "just right" spoon, she took herself to the kitchen to work it out on her own.  she returned with a chopstick.  i simply raised an eyebrow and watched with interest to see how she would proceed with this chosen utensil.  she is now managing to eat her cheerios - one at a time - with said chopstick by skewering them through the hole. 

it might be a long day.  or at least a long breakfast at this rate of consumption.

we have been swept up in a crescendo of meltdowns over the last few days.   i've lost count at this point.  if i really cared to calculate them i think i would require one of those tally clicker thingamabobs.  the most amusing part of this fiasco is the impetus for the tantrums. 

yesterday she collapsed and sobbed on the floor because, "won't work! won't work!"  when i looked to see what wouldn't work, i realized she was attempting to fit the larger of her buckets inside the smaller.  sorry honey, that wouldn't work for anyone. 

she has also been particularly naughty.  testing the limits more than usual.  she's been doing things she knows she shouldn't be doing, all the while peering over her shoulder at me to see what kind of reaction she will muster.

when i was young and naughty (wait a minute...) my parents discovered the only thing i was afraid of was "the BIG spoon".  they would chase me around the house with it and i would behave.  they never actually hit me with the spoon, so it was a total mystery as to why i was afraid of it.  but it worked so they went with it.  my mother even took to carrying a normal sized wooden spoon in her purse because i liked to hide on her while shopping and i wouldn't reveal my whereabouts until she brandished the spoon and made an idle threat. 

so, no.. i'm not chasing delilah around the house with a large wooden spoon to control her behavior.  but yes, i'm in full on "guess who's watching?" mode.  santa's omniscience has a real positive effect on behavior in this household.  how long do you think i can stretch out his power?  july?  april?  at least through the next week?