Rachel's First Real Lie

Rachel's imagination is growing by leaps and bounds the last few weeks. She engages in "dramatic play" with her stuffed animals, cars, and action figures by making up dialog and putting them in situations that they act out. Most of the time we can't make out what the characters are saying but she is definitely running dialog with them.

Recently when we have asked if she has gone to the bathroom in her diaper she says "No, poopoo at Nana's". She is trying to tell us that she has pooped but it was her Grandma's house in the recent past. I guess this could constitute as an untruth but we don't think it was an out and out lie. Rachel seemed to be giving this response to us because we laugh everytime she tells us so I think it is more of a conditioned response than anything. Plus, we have encouraged the response because it is the first real sentence she has put together.

On Wednesday night Rachel told her first whopper. At the end of the evening we have a routine to get Rachel ready for bed. We put her jammies on, give her a cup of milk, brush her teeth. Believe me, she knows when this is coming and she tries to stall for time. When Rachel sees the toothbrush she will ask for food, another drink, another story, or a different TV program. She really does not want these things, she just does not like to have her teeth brushed.

On Wednesday night when Rachel saw the toothbrush she decided to try a new stall tactic, lying. She went to the window and said "Hello bunny!" She kept pointing outside and talking to the bunny that she saw in the grass outside the apartment. Now, there are no wild bunnies running around our apartment complex but there was a rabbit on the video that she was watching. She kept it up for a few minutes saying, "C'mon bunny", "Hello bunny", and "Look, bunny". All the while we were trying to convince her that she needed to brush her teeth.

Rachel eventually dropped the charade and told us that the bunny was asleep ("Sleep, bunny"). We brushed her teeth and sent her to bed with the knowledge that she is one step closer to being smarter than her parents.