My friend Jess wrote a blog today, titled "To Tell The Truth". (Read it here.) Today I was pondering writing a blog about truth and such as well. My inspiration was on a much smaller scale. It came from my two stepsons, who told me a lie this morning.

I hate lies. I hate being lied to. I hate telling lies too. It irritates me and makes me upset.

This was something simple. I overheard one telling the other "You didn't brush your teeth yet". The reply: "You didn't either". Then dad comes around and yells "Come on boys, we gotta GO!"

It's not that late. They could have said "I didn't brush my teeth yet". There was time. Instead they clobbered downstairs to put their shoes on. I went downstairs and asked if they brushed their teeth. Answer from both: "Yes". I left it at that, I'm only the stepmother after all. (That's another post, but for the record, as far as stepkids go, I didn't do too badly at all. The boys are really pretty good and I'm actually quite lucky.)

If you lie, be smart enough not to be caught in that lie. After they left I decided to check their toothbrushes. They were dry. So they lied. To my face.

I know at some point kids start lying consciously. It's not a simple little fib or a slight confusion about truth and imagination and fantasy. Sometimes they'll try to get away with stuff. Sometimes it'll work, on other occasions it won't.

What did my mom do when we were young? She did the "I can tell by your forehead if you're lying" thing. My 3 sisters and I did buy that for the longest time. But ... the whole forehead thing ... wasn't that just another lie? When we stopped believing her, she didn't get away with it anymore.

How can I raise Kate to be an honest and truthful person. The world is full of lies. I have to admit to telling some white lies at time. The lies that (Fairy) Godmother is talking about on her blog. Mine are like: "I don't have any Dora on T.V. right now." "Diego is sleeping." I want to stop them. If I am honest and truthful in all things, isn't that the best, showing by example to be honest and truthful?

If it's all about catching kids in lies, then they just become smarter at not getting caught. One should be truthful for truth's sake, not because you're afraid of getting caught. One reason for me to tell the truth is that it's simply easier. It's hard to remember lies, much easier to remember the truth.

That leaves Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy and their sort.

The boys told me the other night that they knew about Santa for the past few years. Their mom didn't know they knew, but the boys figured they'd just keep it going. She knows they know now. Weird though, how it was turned around and they spared her the knowledge of their loss of their belief in Santa.

I'm ambiguous about the whole magic people/creatures bearing gifts. If she asks me, I'll just tell. Maybe I'll take a stand on the tooth fairy. He/she's not welcome at our house.

The outfit (and we use that term lightly here) is a compromise to field a few melt down situations. After I tried to suction her nose (mean mommy) she just turned into Ms. Crankypants. She didn't want to wear her coat, she changed her mind about her shoes and didn't want her backpack on her back, there was more, but I blocked those memories I think.

She insisted on wearing her "hearts coat". It's not a coat, it's a fleece jacket at most. It was 26 degrees out, and she needed more. Hence the (too small) orange vest. We had already decided on the magenta like pants and the little miss inisted on her crocs.

The hat you ask? Well, that was a well intended present from her big brothers. Except the embroidery guy messed it up, if you fold it up to show the dolphin and her name, the hat is too small for the kid's noggin. She HAD to wear it, so we just put it on with the embroidery inside out.

Ugh. I have to say, she pulls it off nicely, and luckily the walk to the daycare provider's house is very short!

We should all be like Wilma...

My friend Jess felt inspired to write a blog about me. This is on a day where I actually raised my voice to my much loved Kate. (See the sk8ter girl post).

Thank you Jess, for making me feel special and making me cry :-) A girl couldn't ask for better imaginary friends.

If you don't visit her blog regularly, you should. She's a great writer and very funny and insightful.

I have one (1) pair of shoes with an actual heel. They're black pumps that I haven't worn in ages, but they might come in handy if I ever need to look a bit dressed up.

Kate loves them, gravitates to them when she goes into the walk in closet. She did today, still buck naked after her bath. She was dried off, lotioned up, brushed (both teeth and hair) and I was ready to take her to her room to get her in pajamas.

Not yet ...
Out she came, cloinking those shoes on the tile floor. "Looking good, mommy". That's what she said.

Where did she get THAT from?

As if this didn't make me feel like the luckiest mom on earth with the greatest toddler on earth, she's just really a cool kid. (She's started using the word "cool" by the way, very cute, very cool). After I put her in bed last night I spent some time in my bedroom. The baby monitor is on. She's talking to her toys for at least 45 minutes. Telling her dolly she's going to be under the covers, telling her doggy it's her friend and that he makes her happy. I should have recorded that.

Hopefully she gets enough sleep, but for now I'm so happy she can be so content on her own. She can be so wonderfully independent at times. Running through the house coming up with new things do do, new fun ways to play. Would she like to watch Shrek (any one of them) 20 million more times, day in day out, yep. It's not going to happen, so the kid just rolls with it.

I'm the luckiest mom on earth, really!