Not a day goes by that this precious little one doesn't make me laugh or at least question my sanity. He is growing up so quickly. With that growth comes achieving developmental milestones. He's right where he should be for his age. His latest developmental milestone deals more with his own inner conscious. He's discovered lying. Last night at dinner at Hoffbrau, Caden was caught in a flat out lie. The look on his face one he realized he had been busted was priceless.
His lie: his reading assignment from Monday evening. He decided to play Michael and I against one another and told each of us that he read to the other parent. Pretty smart. The only problem was when I asked Michael if he remembered to fill out Caden's reading assignment daily log that morning. The tangled lie fell apart at that moment. With a few more comments between Michael and I... "no, I thought you did since Caden read to you... Caden didn't read to me, he said he read to you..." we quickly discovered that our witty 8 year old had played us both.
Thank goodness this conversation took place at the end of our meal and as we were leaving the restaurant.
The car ride home was filled with many "I'm sorry's" and "I'll never lie again's" for Caden knew a punishment was imminent.
His punishment needed to be stern for unfortunately this is not Caden's first lie. He seems to dislike brushing his teeth and has been caught with a dry toothbrush a few times after telling us he brushed his teeth. He had been warned. He had been lectured. He had been reminded that the bible teaches us that we are not to lie.
He received a swift single spanking and was grounded from all electronics. One would have thought that the spanking would have been worse... but losing all electronic devices sent this little one into a frenzy. So much so that he decided to inflict a little self-punishment. No electronic devices, soon turned to him huffing that maybe he shouldn't be allowed to even have access to the lights, because after all they are powered by electricity. He then decided to kick it up a notch. He should just have to do without water as well. This of course was shortly after he was told to go take a shower. After a few minutes of pouting, and a little ranting, I found a semi-naked Caden sitting in a dark bathroom.
Little to his liking, he was quickly assisted to the shower with threats of losing more important things... like golf. There was the magic word. Golf. Note to self: start with taking away golf.
That shower seemed to do him some good. He came out into the living room a brand new 8 year old little boy. A little while later while we were laying in my bed talking, he gave me the sweetest, most sincere "I'm sorry" that I have ever heard. And a promise to never lie again.
While I know that last statement may not hold true... I think Caden learned a valuable lesson last night.
He still is one of the sweetest little 8 year olds I know. He still makes me laugh and smile each and every day. Parenting is a journey. Some days are better than others. I love these Cadenisms. I love this little boy.
~jen
