Tina Fey told David Letterman in an interview on Friday that techniques she developed working with Alec Baldwin help her deal with her strong-willed three-year-old.
Tina has three-year-old Penelope and nine-year-old Alice. Apparently, Penelope is quite a handful.
So much so, that she has to plan ahead and consider the fact that Penelope’s fits are not a matter of if, but a matter of when.
Tina Fey told Letterman a hilarious anecdote about an incident with Penelope where she had to use the skill set she honed on Baldwin while filming 30 Rock.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvpVolktFSU
“She just is very willful. We have this little library that we go to in our neighborhood and on Sundays they have a thing where they put out toys. They put out like, a dollhouse, and all these little cars and toys, and she loves it. But, it only goes until like 11:00 a.m.”
Fey continued, “I see the clock ticking and I go, ‘Alright, I gotta start planning how we’re gonna get outta hereā¦ how we’re gonna get out of here alive.'”
Her plan doesn’t go as planned, but she narrowly missed “destroying” another little girl and a huge dollhouse.
As she explained to Penelope that she had to behave if she wanted to come back, Tina Fey said Penelope declared that she wanted to “hurt everybody” and “hit and kick every peoples”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxxBCYJRSss
This attitude ought to be interesting as little Penelope starts preschool!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVh7KJW0cFU
Tina Fey says she didn’t tell preschool staff about the bad stuff until Penelope was already accepted.
“Once I finally got her into preschool, and it was a done deal, I was like, ‘Hey, let me tell you some stuff about her. She is not potty-trained, she’s allergic to nuts, and she bites. So, I gotta go!’ It’s the preschool hat trick! She thinks she’s [potty-trained] so that’s good. She likes to wear underpants, and then it all goes wrong.”
Oh, how I wish I could be a fly on that preschool wall! Good luck to Tina Fey on the next 15 years of her life!