No!!!!!!!!!

We had an "incident" Sunday afternoon, and let's just say Lucy is lucky Mommy's anxiety medicine helps keep her composed...

Jason was at a business meeting during the afternoon, and both Jack and Lucy decided they didn't need naps this day - argh! I was switching over some loads of laundry, and I realized it had become eerily quiet in the house...never good when they're both awake, right?!?

I went to my room first, because that's where they've recently enjoyed escaping to, and I find Jack and Lucy on the bed...they've thrown all of the folded clothes I had in piles off the bed (remember, I was doing laundry)...and Jack is painting my footboard with nail polish, and Lucy's bottle is upside down on the comforter, leaking into the crack at the footboard.

OH...NO...

The only good thing about this scenario is that it was clear nail polish, although the probability of Lucy selecting the two bottles of clear admist all the colored polishes is just beyond me how I lucked out there. Especially since she's my "Fancy Nancy" lover, and her favorite page in the "Ooh La La Beauty Spa Day" book is the one where her mom has to choose a nail polish color from the variety of ten colors, all of which are painted on Fancy Nancy's fingernails. Lucy LOVES this page, and we have to spend several minutes naming the nail polish colors, selecting our favorite, and discussing which color looks best on her hands!

Anyhow, my point is thank the Lord it's clear, because again, Jack was painting our sleigh bed's footboard!

The room reeked of that strong "nail polish" smell, and I quickly wiped the footboard down, but those marks are here to stay.

As I collected the bottles, I kept repeating, "No!" louder and louder. You should have seen their faces...

I sat Lucy down and began firmly lecturing her about what she had done wrong, and I have to say our dialogue took a surprising turn...

Me: "Lucy, you made a very, very, VERY bad choice when you went into mommy's drawer and got out the nail polish..."

Lucy: deer in headlights

Me: "You know you have to ask permission, and you chose to be sneaky. I am very disappointed.

Lucy: head drops a bit

Me: "Mommy's bed can not be fixed... You made a very bad choice, Lucy!"

Lucy: "But God is always with me."

Me: stunned and unsure how to respond...brief pause

Me: "Well, yes, Lucy, God is always with you, but he wants you to make GOOD choices. If you aren't sure what choice to make, you can always ask God for help, and he'll help you make a good choice."

My anger tempered by our new thread of discussion, I reminded her NEVER to get into my nail polish again, sent her to her room, and took away her "coins" she had been enjoying keeping in her pocket this day.

Fast forward hours later in the day, after dinner. Jack had been repeatedly doing defiant things like shouting, "NO!" and running away when you told him to do anything. So, he was repeatedly visiting time out. On his third or fourth visit, Lucy walked over to him and softly said to him, "Jaaaaack, you need to pray to God to help you make the right choice."

Like our preacher says, "If I'm lyin' I'm dyin'" Can you believe that girl?!? Almost makes my streaked footboard worth it ;-) Nah, that's pretty worth it ;-)

I just wonder exactly how Lucy applied the "God is always with me" lesson in her own thinking...Was she implying that since God was with her that He was partially to blame as well? The whole, "my friend made me do it" excuse... or could it be she was smart enough to try to deter the line of discipline that was taking place and throw a curveball into the equation...something to take my mind off her bad behavior?... :-)

Ah, three year-olds...