SHHHHH...THE GNOMES WILL HEAR US
Okay, so I have two little girls known throughout our house for how loud they can be.  The cabinet above our stove is full of shattered glass - the broken remains of a once beautiful stemware collection shattered by the shrill screams of little girls.  Oh, and the baby is asleep - upstairs.

And guess where we need to go.

If you've been a parent for any length of time, you know that it is a losing battle to tell your kid "be quiet."  First of all, it's just a dumb thing to say.  Seriously, as an adult, as soon as someone tells you to be quiet, a million questions come to mind.  You suddenly remember that thing you've been meaning to ask for the last two years but keep forgetting.  

Now imagine a child's mind.  In all honesty, you are lucky if you get 10 seconds out of them before the little voices grow to an impressive crescendo.

Here's a way to turn that 10 seconds into 30 seconds.  Make it a game.  Kids respond to games.

Tell them that they have to be really quiet or else the gnomes will run away.  Yeah, my 4 year old knew we were pretending, but she didn't care.  And my (almost) 2 year old followed suit.  We went into Belle's room, pretended to catch the gnome, and game over.  We could be loud again.

STEALING TOYS
Disclaimers:  First, we have not tried this one, but I fully intend to as soon as I get a chance.  Second, any wise dentist (or maybe anybody) would probably recommend against this one.  And third, you will need to watch your kid closely while doing this one...just in case.

So my 4 year old has to have every toy that my 2 year old is playing with.  Of course, she doesn't actually want the toy, but she wants to take it.  

The Veggie Tales folks have a wonderful video about selfishness called King George and the Ducky, but it does not seem to be sinking in.

Well, Annabelle loves gum.  In fact, it is a real motivator for her.  But as we all know, too much gum is a bad thing.  You know, kind of like when we hoard toys!?  

So, each time she steals a toy from her sister, I am going to give her a piece of gum to add to the gum she already has.  At first, she will enjoy it and think its great.  Then, after the gum builds up, it will be hard to chew and not enjoyable at all.

Once she's had it, we will explain how stealing toys is a lot like chewing too much gum.  At first, we like it because we are getting what we want.  But sometimes, when we get too much of what we want, we don't enjoy it very much at all.

INAPPROPRIATE COMMENTS
In all honesty, I am completely perplexed by this one.  My 4 year old is somewhat obsessed with people who are not relatively thin.  She's been known to point our someone with a few extra pounds with an emphatic "whoa, that's a big one there!"  No kidding...and I don't know where she's getting this!  My only guess is that she is used to mommy getting big and the little again after the baby arrives.  Pregnancy jokes were present in our home...who knows?

Naturally, I would only make things worse if I tell her not to say such things - taboos are great temptations for kids.  So I think we need to help her be more sensitive to weight.

Again, I haven't tried this out, but I can't wait to do so.  

I think we need to dress her up to be extra rotund.  She can wear my sweat pants all bunched up (hey, there's a drawstring), a sweatshirt all scrunched up, and some clothes over top to keep it all together.  After spending a few hours trying to doing things (play, go potty, eat), I think she will understand a little better.

This one could backfire in any number of creative ways.