I was sitting in my formal livingroom today with my husband, my mother and all four kids when I noticed that there was a streak of pen on the front of the leather couch.
"Wait a sec." I said. "Who wrote on the couch?"
The couch is left over from when I was single and it's the nicest piece of furniture in my house.
A chorus of 4 "Not me"s went around the room with an "I'm INNOCENT!" thrown in for good measure.
So we asked each child in turn and they all denied it.
"Fine." I said to all of them. "Go to your rooms."
The truth was that there were too main suspects - the usual suspects - my youngest son, who could use some more self control - and my youngest daughter, who sometimes leans a little too hard on being the baby.
As they all started toward the stairs, my oldest son, said, "I did it."
I was shocked. So was my husband. We looked at him. "You did it?"
He nodded.
I had him go into the kitchen and get a sponge. It was a dry erase marker so it washed right off. I said to him, "That's a VERY expensive couch. We don't have a lot of nice things. Please don't ruin the ones we have." He nodded.
A few minutes later he crawled into my husband's lap. My husband said something to him along the same lines - about respecting our home - and my son whispered to him, "I didn't do it."
"You didn't do it?" I asked.
He shook his head.
My husband shook his hand to tell him that he was proud of him for taking the blame so that they weren't all punished for what one person did.
I turned to the other three, "He did a nice thing for you by taking the blame, but you weren't very nice to him by LETTING him take the blame."
My 5 year old daughter, got up, walked over to me and said, "I'm not innocent."
Then she turned to her brother and said, "I'm sorry."
He said, "That's okay."
And then they hugged.
Awwwww. Is your five year old daughter the younger of your two middles? I see some fascinating birth order dynamics at play here!
Posted by: katrin | March 26, 2012 at 09:07 AM
Oh that is goddamn BEAUTIFUL.
xx
Posted by: edenland | March 26, 2012 at 09:07 AM
It's good that she came clean. I confessed to more than a few things I didn't do because I was tired of sitting in time-out with my little sister. I don't recall her ever apologizing to me though (which is pretty consistent with her behavior as an adult now that I think about it).
Posted by: Kate | March 26, 2012 at 11:06 AM
Wow. If we ever have kids, I want them to be like yours.
Posted by: looloolooweez | March 26, 2012 at 11:48 AM
Great story. I would be so proud!
Posted by: Stacey | March 26, 2012 at 12:08 PM
this is fantastic....such a proud mommy moment.
Posted by: Lori | March 26, 2012 at 01:23 PM
So basically with the amount of choice that is open to you, the Air Jordan makes the perfect shoe to be worn not just on the basketball court but also on a daily basis as well.
Posted by: Jordan Retro 12 | March 26, 2012 at 11:48 PM
What a great lesson, all around.
You've got some good kids there.
Posted by: John | March 27, 2012 at 08:19 AM
...wait .... you complimented him for taking the blame? I give my kids holy HELL if the one kid takes the blame for the other. Which my daughter tries to do all the time. Because in our house, that's lying to cover somebody's tracks, and I consider it pretty damned shitty behavior.
But then again, my two wouldn't feel in the least guilty about a group punishment, either.
Posted by: Jester Queen | March 27, 2012 at 08:39 AM
Great story. I know you sometimes worry that being gone a lot might adversely affect the kids. Don't worry...you're doing fine!
Posted by: Ken | March 27, 2012 at 09:49 AM
All I can say, as a lurker who enjoys all the stories about your kids, is AWWWWWWWWW!
Posted by: Nicole D. | March 27, 2012 at 10:06 PM
Awww. That's so precious! I only have the one son, but I wish I had had others. (at least one more). Stories like this reminds me of what I always say "I've never met a kid I didn't like". (:^)
Posted by: D Magazine (Dawne Strehl) | March 28, 2012 at 01:16 AM