Mind Reader

I am always surprised when I can read my kids' minds (and grateful when I am able to deter misbehavior with it).

Adelaine: On her birthday she came to me and said, "Happy Birthday Mama". I was surprised and said, "Silly girl. It is YOUR Birthday" She very knowinly said, "I know" Not sure what to do, I said, "Happy Birthday Adelaine" "Thank you," she said - satisfied. I then clued into her reverse psychology techniques: "Mama, you are beautiful." .....Oh...SHE wants to be told SHE is beautiful and doesn't necessarily think I am beautiful. To affirm her now (but wanting to talk about this technique later, I just said,"Adelaine, you are beautiful." Again satisfied, but pretending to be suprised, she said, "OHHHH....thank you"

Lukas: As I am on the computer upstairs and the kids are to be napping, I see out of the corner of my eye, a little boy tip toeing into Adelaine's room with a cup full of water and visions of a wet, screaming sister. I just snap my fingers and point to him. He sadly turns away and defeatedly says "Sorry."

Adelaine: When Adelaine was younger she would out of the blue tell us she DIDN'T do something (which told us she in fact just DID that very thing). ie: "Mama, I didn't go potty in my pants." "Oh....so, did you just go potty in your pants?" "Yes." ....Of course I imagine her as a teenager randomly coming to me and saying, "Mama, I didn't do drugs at the party." Right.
But these days, her tactics are different: she will just try to tell me what she did was okay, as if saying it makes it true: She comes to me after I hear Lukas' scream: "Mama, it is okay for me to hit Lukas." Nope...actually it isn't and now I know you just did it kid!

Lukas: I see him holding a balloon animal dog....I see him examine it and start snickering. I roll my eyes and just say, "Come on Lukas, it is the dog's tail." "Oh" he says, sheepish.

***by the way, I know I share a lot of potty humor on this blog. Lukas does have consequences for it and isn't strangely obsessed with it - I just think he has gotten easy laughs with little verbal effort with it. I also think that it is genetic, as I still snicker at some potty humor. BUT, Adam and I don't talk about body parts and bowel movements all day long, I swear.