Just think - she's only 3 years old.

This past weekend, at Helen's request, I made her a peanut butter & jelly sandwich for lunch.  I cut off the crusts (she doesn't like the "crunchy" part) and made 4 little triangles for her to enjoy.  She ate one of them, but then she told me she was done.  

Brian had bought a candy bar at the store earlier and she was promised part of it for after lunch.  Since she was "done" with her lunch, she asked me for the candy bar.  I told her no, she had to eat the rest of her sandwich, and then she could have the candy bar.  She put up a minimal protest but I held my ground.  She could be done with her sandwich now, and no candy bar, or she could finish it and enjoy the chocolatey goodness.

At that point Alice tuned up with her own request for lunch, so I went to sit on the sofa in the living room and nursed her.  Occasionally I would see Helen at the kitchen door and reminded her to finish her sandwich.  Helen would head back to her seat at the table and I had assumed she was eating the sandwich, slowly but surely.

Eventually Helen told me she was done.  I asked her if she had eaten all of her sandwich, and she said yes.  I asked her if I came in there, would I see any more sandwich on her plate?  She said no.  I got up, and walked into the kitchen.  On the counter next to the sink was her empty plate, and Helen was standing in front of the trash can with the biggest smile on her face.  

At that point, Dear Readers, I couldn't help but laugh.  I asked her if she threw her sandwich in the trash can, and she said no.  I made a move toward the trash can and she yelled, "Nooo!"  I finally moved her out of the way and opened the lid.  Sure enough, there were all 3 sandwich triangles, sitting in the trash can.

I told Brian what happened, and he started laughing, too.  I mean, our child flat out lied, but being a 3-year old, she couldn't even try to be sneaky about it.  Seeing her in front of that trash can was pretty funny.  So it must have really confused her when I took her into the living room, explained to her that she had not told me the truth, and put her in timeout.  And it must have been really hard for her to sit in timeout while both of us chuckled.

Something tells me it won't be so funny the next time.