Rachael's Coniving - 1

a few weeks ago, rachael wanted more juice in the morning (no surprise there) and i told her, "no. not until you've eaten some food. do you want some cereal?" the typical power struggle ensued and, eventually, she accepted a bowl of corn chex to eat (dry, of course). i sat her at the table, promised her more juice after she ate the cereal, and went in to the fridge to find something that was smelling. shortly thereafter, she came and asked for more juice. i asked if she was done eating and she said, "yeah." i clarified my question and asked if she had eaten all her cereal. she got upset and walked back to the table. a few minutes later, i was still trying to find the stinky culprit in the fridge, i heard her walking around and saw her just in time to see her dump the cereal into the sink. she put the bowl in the sink and came to me to announce, with arms outstretched, "all done." cute as it was, i suppressed my laughter and went to the sink to retrieve the empty bowl and most of the remaining cereal (luckily, my sink was clean at the time). i put her back at the table and said she had to eat her cereal, all of it, if she wanted more juice. she pouted but went back to the task of eating; i went back to my task of looking for the reeking science experiment in the fridge. a few minutes later, i heard her walking around and looked around the fridge door in time to see her using the small dustpan and handbroom to clean up her spilled cereal off the floor. she swept it as best she could, dumped it in the garbage and brought me her empty bowl and said, "all done. more juice." i had to work hard not to laugh at her machinations and determination to get more juice. i returned to the table, scooped up a few remaining pieces of cereal from floor (luckily it was also relatively clean). this time i sat with her and she ate the retrieved cereal and then i gave her more juice.

the scriptures say children are innocent and without guile.... so, what happened with my kid? if that's not guile, what is? :)