Regressing a Bit

We're not entirely sure why, but Lily has had some behavior problems in the past 24 hours or so. Tiffany very kindly invited Amanda and the kids over for dinner. They ended up staying until 8:00, which was maybe a bit too late for Lily's attitude to hold up. She had Amanda's keys and wouldn't give them back. She was also very intrigued by "Dancing With the Stars" which was coming on at 8:00 and didn't want to leave. Amanda and Lily had a talk about that in the car.

I got back from my small group at around 8:00 this morning and everyone was enjoying breakfast. Things began to spiral downhill quickly. Amanda had bought a book for a friend's 2 year-old, but she couldn't find it. She asked Lily if she knew where it was, but she said she didn't. I came upstairs to see if I could help and then started to call Lily to talk to her. She didn't respond, which was odd. Amanda thought she was hiding. Turns out she had to go to Cooper's house to get the book. She took it over there yesterday. Apparently she didn't realize it was a gift.

We had a sit-down over this one. Lily learned that the penalties are much less if you are honest about doing something wrong than if you lie. The problem is that we didn't want a punishment that would end up being a punishment to Amanda. We decided that Lily can't take any toys outside for a week. Lily was OK with that and said that it was what she was thinking.

Amazing how charming she became as they got ready to drive off to preschool. Got to watch that one.