"Not Me"

Do you all remember the comic strip "The Family Circus"? If you know the cartoon I speak of then you will know what I am talking about when I mention "Not Me", the ghostly little trouble maker that always seemed to be getting into something. Well, he has begun visiting Casa de Bradshaw. I know this because yesterday he ate three containers of chocolate pudding (which he then smeared on Tanner's face), and today he spilled some soda in the floor and tried to frame Tanner by sitting the can right beside his cup AND putting a pair of Tanner's socks in the refrigerator. Apparently, he is feeling very mischevious right now and poor innocent Tanner is his victim!
Ok--maybe not, but we did have our very first (and then our second) lesson about fibbing yesterday and today. I don't think I am prepared for parenting. Is it too late to rethink this??? I honestly didn't know how to handle it. Tanner kept insisting that he did not spill the soda and that he also didn't know who did. The frustration was not in that there was a mess on the floor--that was easy enough to take care of, I just wanted Tanner to admit that he had made the mess. He wouldn't budge so Jeremy and I sent him to his room to think about it for a little while. Then we asked again if he knew how the soda had gotten on the floor. This time when he told me no, I explained what lying was and how it was NOT acceptable. Tanner STILL wasn't fessing up. Fast forward ten minutes to Jeremy and I sitting on Tanner's floor eating ice cream cones and planning our afternoon while Tanner watched on. Is that wrong??? Perhaps, but it worked. He finally burst out, "I spilled the soda, but it was an accident!" FINALLY, something I can work with. We told him that it was ok that he had made a mess, (although we preferred that if he wanted something he would first ask for help), but as soon as the mess was made he should have asked Mommy and Daddy to help him clean it up instead of running off and hiding. We then explained again that it was NEVER ok to tell someone a lie. He apologized and got to enjoy some ice cream after all. Parenting is SCARY!!! I hope that I handled it well enough that in the future he will think twice about lying. The rest of the day went pretty smoothly and we got to enjoy a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Soon I will be posting some pictures taken with my SUPER COOL BRAND NEW DIGITAL CAMERA. I tried to take some after we got home from Best Buy, but it was getting too dark and they didn't turn out very well. I'm not sure what I did to deserve such an expensive gift today--but I really should do it more often--maybe it was ironing the placemats. Hmmm, maybe next week I'll vacuum! Thank you, Jeremy. You spoil me and I don't deserve it.