Crocodile Tears and Suck Up Genes

You know there are days that just scare the me to no end and make me ever thankful we come out unscathed. There are also days I fear for my daughters' future husbands. Sometimes, those days are the same day. That was yesterday for me.

Yesterday was really an excellent day. Sean tried to weasel out of church by telling me Pop said he could stay home. Having had this trick played on me once I dug a little deeper. Turns out Sean went into Nana/Pop's room to ask and Pop told him to "Go on!" Told Sean that did not mean he could stay home and he knew it. Pop also gave him a stern talking to before we left while I finished getting the girls ready. That talk worked. No antics like last week's episode at church that I know of. He was even extremely well behaved at my BFFs daughter's 10th B-Day party. That really should have been my warning that Fate or the universe had one big blow coming.

My girls are generally well behaved and follow the rules. That's not to say they are perfect. They do have their moments but they are usually small things. Every so often they pull a really good one and get in deep trouble. As evidenced by yesterday's stunt at the park where the above mentioned party was going on. It's a fairly good sized park with a duck pond, areas for swinging, a merry go round (so amazed there's still a park with one), and all sorts of climbing towers with bridges and such. I keep a good eye on my kids at all times. At parties and/or places they can play by themselves without me hanging right over them they know to come check in with me pretty often. At the park that usually means they are screaming and waving for me to see their latest antics. When I was ready to go I saw Sean and asked him to go get his sisters and tell em it was time to go. He came back saying he didn't see them. Not too unusual for him. So I told him to sit at the table wait for me. I walked around that large area they were supposed to be in twice. Called their names and everything. About the time I started to panic and asked BFF for help their my darling daughters were in a power wheels car with a girl not part of our party.

I was livid. My girls are 7 and 5 and know better than to do such a thing. It hadn't been very long since their last check in so this happened in maybe less than a 5 minute period of time. Bridge, my little diva, told me it was all Meg's idea. It probably was. I asked her, "How old is Meg?"

Bridge, "5."

Me, "And how old are you?"

Bridge, "7"

Me, "Who knows better?"

Bridge, "Me."

Me, "What should you have done?"

Bridge, "Come got you."

Me, "Exactly. You both put yourselves in danger and scared me to death. You're both indefinitely grounded and no video games of any sort til I say otherwise."

At which point my Bridge broke out in what I knew to be crocodile tears and wailed she was sorry. I told her she is not sorry yet and to stop crying. She dried it up like you would turn a faucet off. This is how I know she is going to make her future husband crazy. She has a flair for the dramatic. Meg smartly said nothing and just pouted.

When we got home Hubs talked to both of them and they had to spend the rest of the night in their room. He also gave the end date for the grounding. Just til next Sunday.

I don't share this to get any sort of know it all comments. Just to share that little girls learn this manipulation stuff at an early age and it is a natural born trait. Lord knows Bridge has never seen me cry to get my way or to fake cry when I am not sorry at all for anything.

As for boys? Apparently they have the inherited suck up gene. As we walked to the car and I was telling the girls I didn't want to hear a word from them on the way home, Sean tells me, "Mama you look beautiful today and I love you." Yeah. Brilliant timing. Wonder if he said that cause he's done something I don't know about yet? Or just to deflect my upset at the girls? Who knows. But sadly, I'm weak. It worked. They whispered all the way home. Since I couldn't hear them, I let em get by with it. It's maybe one of the few times Sean's attempt to soften me or suck up actually worked. Usually I set him straight on that crap.

BFF told me that Fate just couldn't let the day go by without an incident since Sean had been golden all day. I think Fate can suck it. That took at least 10 years off my life.