Caught in the Act...Sort of

The biggest challenge lately for our four-year-old has been to STAY OFF the kitchen counter in the mornings. Caleb has always been the first Workman in the house to awaken. Thankfully, he has stretched his 6am wake-up call to closer to 7am, which makes for a much happier mommy and family, in general. Usually, keeping him off the counter is not an issue. But for the past week, we have had more sweet treats in the house than usual, so those curious little taste buds have gotten the best of our little guy on multiple occasions. Four out of the last seven mornings, he has gotten caught sneaking treats while the rest of the Workmans were peacefully sleeping. Not that I actually saw him do any of it...the evidence was usually right on Caleb's face.


Monday-Caleb was just so excited that he had eaten the chocolate chips out of the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that he simply gave himself away by blurting it out as he greeted me that morning.


Tuesday-On this morning, I was actually awake when the thieving occurred. I was upstairs and Caleb was calling from downstairs that Seth was trying to get on the counter to eat the cookies. Once I made it downstairs to investigate, there was my oldest with lips covered in chocolate. I asked Caleb if, in fact, he had been the cookie culprit. Realizing the evidence was right on his face, he quickly turned around and attempted to wipe his mouth with his sleeve. Then he confessed.


Friday-While making breakfast, I noticed mysterious "tracks" in the pumpkin streussal pie. I proceeded to question Caleb (who had crumbs on his chin) about who could have gotten into the pie WITHOUT PERMISSION. He quickly confessed and accepted his punishment to have no other sweet treats for the day. However, later on in the day when Eric and I were sharing a piece of pie, he got a bit upset when he had to be reminded that he couldn't share in the treat because he had broken the rule earlier in the day. His response to why he took the pie without permission: "Well, I thought I wouldn't get caught." Oh, the honesty.


Saturday-I actually didn't catch him this time, Memaw did. She came into the kitchen early to the sounds of rustling paper and then a quick hand stuffing something behind his back. Memaw asked if he had been in the mints. Sheepishly, he looked up into those loving Memaw eyes. And since everyone knows that Memaws have more grace with their grandsons than their mommas do, he was told that if he was honest he would not get into trouble. He was honest, and no punishment was rendered.


So, we are working on staying off the counters. Stricter rules have been implemented as well as more well defined consequences. However, with no sweet treats in the house this week for sneaky hands and mouths to delight in, the temptation has been significantly lessened.