A Tale of Two Siblings

My parents are visiting, and Natalia decided to take advantage of my mother on her first night in town. At bath time she led my mom into the kids' bathroom and acted like she takes a bath there every night. She doesn't - the kids always bathe in our bathroom which has more space and a bigger bathtub. Natalia also tends to run around when eating if not buckled into her booster seat, and we've spent all week fighting with her about this. (She was given many attempts to prove she is ready to sit on her bottom and eat in a big girl chair, and she failed miserably every time.) Still, at snack time tonight she informed my mom, "I eat in big girl chair." Natalia can be a sneaky little thing!

And then there is Michael. The kids had watermelon for snack tonight, and after snack there were a few slices left on the cutting board. My plan was to put them away after the kids went to bed, and I didn't pay much attention to the leftovers as I ran back and forth through the house trying to wrangle everyone to their rooms. At one point Mike stopped me and pointed out that one of the slices was actually mostly eaten. The cutting board was on the edge of the counter, and I assumed Nati ate it, and if not her, then possibly Leon. The following conversation then took place.

Me: (Casually) So who do you think ate it?
Mike: I don't know.
Me: Come on. Think about it. Who would sneak watermelon off the counter.
Mike: Um...(really long pause)...um...Leon?
Me: Maybe. Who else would do it?
Mike: Nati?
Me: I think she might do something like that.

I started to comment about Ree probably not being guilty when he interrupted me.

Mike: It was an accident! I was still hungry!
Me: (Confused) Wait? You ate it?
Mike: It was an accident! I was still hungry!

The poor child was almost in tears, and I was at just the right level of exhaustion to find this absolutely hilarious. I had to very carefully tell Mike that I was proud of him for telling the truth and that next time he should have a grown up help him if he wants more to eat. And then we discussed how awesome that watermelon was.

Lesson learned: In her junior high and high school years, Natalia is definitely sharing a room with Michael.