Prosaic Poppy 2005-2006

"Ooh Shiny!"

Have you ever had that feeling that you just know something instinctually? I get that a lot. Especially after I pray.

This morning Caleb could not find his cell phone. He needs his cell phone for work, no getting around it. So when he couldn’t find it he started to panic.

His panic transferred over to me, and we both began tearing the house apart, questioning the three year old and just generally being grumpy.

Then I stopped and prayed to God to lead me to the cell phone. [Caleb was having an attack in the background]. Then it came to me. Elucidation. I commenced with the detective work.

I called Zac. After speaking with him, he confirmed that yes, he saw Caleb’s cell phone on the floor between the dining room and the living room. [By the way, yes this IS where Caleb left it]

So the next deduction would be either Kimi or Abi. We usually jump to the conclusion that the three year old has taken our lost item and hidden it, even though she has never ACTUALLY done this. She usually will play with something she isn’t suppose to and show us, or we will find it in her pile of toys next to the TV. No real mystery there.

Kimi had no idea what we were talking about and in fact insisted that the ‘blue phone’ was in the coat closet. [Caleb looked…no wait, Caleb tore through the closet, it wasn’t there]

So I call Abi at her elementary school. After waiting an excruciatingly long time on the phone [Caleb was at this point having a genuine conniption], I found out that yes, Abi picked up the cell phone and brought it to school with her. I will have to praise her for her honesty. She could have lied, and our living room would be tore apart right now and be no closer to finding the cell phone than finding an elephant doing the hamster dance in my shower.

Abi has been doing all sorts of wacky things like this lately [squirreling, not doing the hamster dance]. I don’t know why, I think it is her age, and maybe the influence of one of her friends…grr…nevermind.

Whatever the reason I do not want to go as far as to label her ‘sneaky’ or ‘bad’. I don’t believe that she is either. She simply finds something that interests her and doesn’t think.

“oooh shiny”

I was like that as a child. I didn’t think much. I flitted from one thing to another without thinking much about it. And I was called ‘sneaky’ and ‘liar’. The most common phrase to leave my lips was “I don’t know”…and I honestly didn’t. Eventually those labels became factual. There is no other way to go when even if you tell the truth no one believes you.

I have realized that Abi is enough like me to understand that her ego is fragile, and that there is no need to bruise her. Besides, she will grow out of the “oooh shiny” stage…well…eventually.

posted by Kassi Gilbert @ 12:18 PM