Plotting and Scheming

The boys have a tendency to grab the Jumperoo and violently shake it to "help" Moses jump. This evening the boys and I were keeping Moses company in the sun room while he exercised, and Caleb once again thought he should "help" Moses in this manner. I rebuked him and he stepped back. A few minutes later, Caleb oh-so-innocently said, "Hey Mommy, why don't you go take a shower?" Thinking it odd that he wanted me to go take a shower, I (truthfully) replied, "No, I already took a shower." Caleb paused, then said, "Want Mommy to leave the sun room?" I gave him a stern look and he grinned mischeviously. He obviuosly wanted me to go away so he could give Moses another shake.

Caleb tried to use the shower ploy on Joe the other night, too. Joe and the boys were lying in bed when Caleb said, "Hey Daddy, want to go take a shower?" Joe did in fact need to take a shower, so he got up and left the room, but suspecting foul play he peeked around the corner, only to behold Caleb standing next to the bed, bracing his arms against the mattress in his typical pooping position. He doesn't want to poop on the toilet so he holds it in until we put him in a diaper at bedtime, which we obviously have been discouraging. Caleb knew that if Daddy went to take a shower, he could eliminate in peace.

Then this past Sunday, I put Caleb in the church toddler class because he was acting up while Joe was on stage playing guitar with the worship team, and I just couldn't deal with all three of them by myself. The boys don't like going to their class, so when I left him there he was screaming and crying. His teacher said that after a while he calmed down and told her that he needed to go use the potty. As soon as she opened the door to take him to the potty, he made a mad dash for the exit and tried to escape! She redirected him to the restroom, where he proceeded to not put anything in the toilet.

Even though I'm less than thrilled with Caleb's attempts to deceive authority figures, I think it's fascinating to see that instead of his typical manner of acting impulsively and throwing tantrums when he doesn't get his way, he is now using his brain--scheming and plotting--to get his desired outcome. While it's not the kind of fruit we'd like to see our son bearing, I guess it's a sign of maturity nonetheless.