My daughter was about 3 years when she got her first real dose of my brother, her uncle. Of course, he teased her mercilessly. He talks quickly, loudly, and laughs uproariously — often at the expense of someone else. Because I grew up with him, I had much thicker skin than my 3 year old.

My brother is 6 years older so I had my fair share of teasing. My daughter; however, did not know what to make of his antics. I could see that she was a bit scared and shied away from him but that didn’t stop him from needling and all out laughing at her while she stood next to me and glared.

What I didn’t realize was that she was plotting her revenge. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, my 3 year old child was just biding her time to bring vengeance upon a full grown adult man. It wasn’t premeditated in that she knew exactly what she was going to do (she was 3 after all) but it was premeditated in the sense that she was going to do something. She just waited for the perfect opportunity and none of us saw it coming.

My brother has worn a mustache for all of his life. He went to the bathroom to trim his mustache with a disposable razor. While he stood at the mirror carefully trimming the very edge near his lip my tiny daughter saw her opportunity. She ran up behind him and kicked him on the back of the knee causing him to shave off a chunk of his mustache. He ended up having to shave the whole thing off. We all laughed and, quite honestly, he deserved it.

There is no way she could have known what consequence kicking him at that particular moment would have, it’s just hilarious she was determined to get even with the man who had bullied her for the whole day. That this itty bitty 3 year old was brave enough to decide he needed a swift kick and then to actually do it is beyond heroic.

I had to admire that my daughter, my little David, took down Goliath.

Truth be told, it scared me a little bit.

She has been hell on wheels ever since.