Things have gotten a little hectic, lately. I attribute this to the fact that we just had our third child! Toren is three weeks old, today, and just in these short three weeks, we have had many grand adventures that I just don't think I would have had if I didn't have three kids! One effect of these children is sleep deprivation. A common problem with most new parents, only magnified when the older two children wake up around 6:30 every morning. I attribute this story to sleep deprivation and the lack of my brain to come up with logical examples. Jubilee was hungry. Someone is often hungry in our house, not because we have a lack of food, but because there are many mouths to feed! She asked for a snack, and I gave her a bowl of yogurt(organic!) with strawberries on top. I was thinking to myself how grand it was that even in my sleep-deprived post-partum state, I was still managing to give my children healthy food, when my thoughts were interrupted with "Can I have some more strawberries, please?" A request that under usual circumstances, I would grant, because she did ask so nicely, and fruit is healthy. However, Jubilee's little sister, Agape, had seen the yogurt and fruit happening in the kitchen, and had asked for some as well, because she always needs to be eating what anyone else is eating. Thus, we were out of strawberries. Jubilee has always been an easy-going kid, good with transitions, and even disappointments...until she turned 4. 4 year-old Jubilee is a drama queen. I'm exaggerating. I know some really dramatic kids. She's not a drama queen, but she does have some dramatic moments, and this was one of them.
I informed Jubilee that "I'm sorry sweetie(always throw in pet name when bearing bad news), but we're out of strawberries." Which brought immediate tears, and the predictable question, in predictable whiny 4-year-old voice, "why????"
To which I answered, "Because you and your sister ate them all!"
And Jubilee rebutted with, "But I want some more right now!"
And I responded with, "I don't have any more. They are gone! What do you expect me to do, grow some right now?" And I thought in my head, what ridiculous location can I suggest growing strawberries that will make the girl laugh instead of cry? And what came out of my mouth was "In my underwear?" Which certainly made my husband laugh. Jubilee, not so much. She got over it, though, as she generally does, and I continue to look forward to the day when minor disappointments don't cause tears of utmost distress.
So fast forward to...the next day. Miss Jubilee goes potty. Yay. She has to cross through the kitchen after using the toilet to get back to the living room, where myself and my hoard of children were playing. Or rather, Agape and I were playing, as Toren slept, and Jubilee was traveling back from the bathroom, through the kitchen. We had made cookies that morning, and they were still uncovered, since I had not found myself with two hands free for half a second to be able to cover them with saran wrap, yet. So apparently, as Jubilee went by the cookies, she thought she would help herself to one. Even though she had asked Mommy for a second cookie already, and Mommy had said "No, one cookie is enough." And she had asked "Why?" And Mommy had launched into her usual lengthy explanation about how cookies(or cake or chocolate or whatever the offending food of the moment may be) are yummy, and a little bit is a nice treat, we only have a little bit because we want to keep our bodies healthy, etc., etc., etc.
Stealing a cookie was a first time offense. And I fully blame it on the story "Who took the cookie from the cookie jar?" which involves children pointing their fingers at each other and blaming classmates for stealing the cookie.(not my favorite book) But regardless, she came back to the living room with a ring of chocolate around her mouth. Good try, Jubilee, but poor execution.
"Jubilee, did you help yourself to a cookie in the kitchen?" I asked.
Jubilee, of course, answered, "I don't know!" I asked the question again, and got the same response. Then she changed to "I don't remember." To which I explained that it just happened, of course she remembers and of course she knows. I told her that there are things in life that she legitimately does not know, for instance (and I thought and thought of what question she could legitimately answer 'I don't know' to, and was stumped...)'do you know what color Mommy's underwear is?'
To which she answered "I don't know!", and I told her that she did indeed know whether she took a cookie and ate it. I then informed her that she had chocolate on her lips, and she promptly confessed. She had some time on the couch to think about her actions, and apologized for taking the cookie without asking. Later that day, she came up to me and asked, "Mommy, what color are your underwear?"
In case you are curious, they happened to be blue.
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