Double Trouble

I'm very VERY lucky to have 2 little girls who play together for hours. They are the best of friends, and despite the once-an-hour-spat that I have to break up, they will seriously play together in their room all morning long. Recently, however, we found that there is a downside to best-friend-sissies... and it's called teamwork.

Layla is a very obedient, sensitive little girl (despite the recent talking-back phase) so she obeys the rules because she doesn't want to get in trouble. What she DOESN'T mind, however, is when Paisley gets in trouble... so Layla has become the (other) little devil on Paisley's shoulder. Layla plans the operation, Paisley carries it out, and then Layla blames it on Paisley. It would be a perfect scam if she didn't have 2 semi-intelligent parents who figured out exactly what was going on. Here are some examples from the last week or so:

I walk out of my room when I realize it's been quiet for far too long. I find both girls sitting on the floor, sharing a leftover cup of Sonic ice cream that's been hijacked from the freezer. Paisley looks up and says "Hi Mommy." then returns to eating her ice cream. (Being in trouble has never phased her much) Layla, on the other hand, panicks at being caught, and shouts "Paisley got it out of the freezer! And look what she did to my (ice-cream-covered) hands!" Now I have no doubt that it WAS Paisley who got it out of the freezer, but I'm thinking she was not responsible for sticking her sister's hands in the cup and forcing her to eat some. Just a guess.

The next day, I saw Layla whisper in Paisley's ear, and then Paisley went directly to the freezer and opened it. I said, "What are you doing?!? Stay out of the freezer!" to which Layla replied "We're just getting ice for our water." Okay, plausible, and I would have believed her if she wasn't contradicted a second later by her little sister who said, "No, we-o yooking fo mo ice cweam!" My oldest little angel is now blatantly lying to stay out of trouble!

Yesterday, they were coloring at the kitchen table, but when the incessant chatter stopped for a full 5 minutes, I knew they had moved on to more devious activities. As I got up to investigate, Layla ran into my room (with a sticky face and strawberry breath) and said, "Mommy, come quick! Paisley got into the cereal bars!" I find Paisley still hiding under the kitchen table, surrounded by 4 perfectly opened, empty wrappers. Strange, because Paisley can't open cereal bar wrappers by herself. Stranger still, that Layla had waited until the precise moment that every last cereal bar was gone to come tattle. Then there was, of course, the strawberry cereal bar all over Layla's face, and the fact that even Paisley can't down 4 bars in less than 4 minutes.

These daughters of mine are getting to be a regular Bonnie and Clyde. Well, you know, if Bonnie and Clyde had been a little less murderous and a little more hungry for sweets.

Nature or Nurture?

So, I'm a list-maker. A completely obsessive one. I'm not sure that they actually help me stay more organized, but that's the idea. On my desk right now are at least 6 different lists, from what I need to make the girls' Halloween costumes to the chores I need to get done this week. I know it would be more helpful if I had a planner, or if I kept all of my endles lists online, but then I wouldn't have the satisfaction of crossing things off by hand...so I continue to kill trees to satisfy my own mania.

Yesterday I found out that either Layla has been watching my list-making frenzy, or she's inherited some of my crazy genes and can't help herself. She was in my room, supposedly napping, and when I came in to check her I found that she had hijacked my pen and wrote herself "lists" completely covering 5 sheets of paper. I especially like how she mimicked my disorganization... main list in the middle, smaller lists that I forgot earlier running down the sides and top, and then the circling and "relocation" of things that I ended up putting in the wrong spot or didn't have time for. That's my girl. :)

Whew, now that I got this done I get to cross off "blog about Layla's list" and move on to the next thing. :)