New Mom: Learning to Lie

Well, we have entered into a new phase in New Girl’s development, and I’m not so sure it’s one I like. I think she has learned to lie.

Yesterday we were watching a ladybug on the garage floor. Now, I’m not so sure that ladybug had much life left in her because, while she did make some movements, she didn’t go anywhere fast, even as we hovered over her and touched her. New Girl seems to have developed a skittishness about bugs, and at her tender age, I don’t think that’s great. So, I was happy to help her see how cute and harmless the ladybug was.

A few minutes later, as she moved on to bigger and better things New Girl tried to climb into a toy train that was meant for a 6-inch plastic monkey, As I was warned her that she wouldn’t fit and that it wasn’t safe to try, she stumbled back and stepped on the aforementioned ladybug. She looked back and knew right away that the ladybug had met her demise. “Look,” I said, in a completely observational and non-judgmental tone. “You stepped on the ladybug. What do you think happened to her?” Her reply was this, “Mommy stepped ladybug.” Now, I was not in that ladybug’s path, and New Girl knew it. She inched further and further away from the late ladybug and kept repeating, “Mommy stepped ladybug.”

I feel quite certain that she knew that she may well have done something wrong and yet at 1½ I never expected her to think she should shift the blame. If this is what she’s doing now, I think we’re headed for some crazy teenage years.