Matthew's Clever Comebacks

Okay, so Matthew is our child that makes everyone smile. He's got this little dimple when he smiles that is so cute! It is really hard to discipline him sometimes because he just makes us smile. However, he is also our troublemaker, and if I turn my head for even a minute, he is usually up to something. He just helps himself to whatever he wants, and gets in to almost everything.

The last several days he has been telling mommy and daddy that we are mean if we get mad at him and put him in timeout. He will say: "Mommy, you are so mean. I'm going to tell daddy on you!" to which I respond the other day, "Go ahead!" Matthew thought for a second and said: "But daddy's not here, he's at work!"

So on to today's trouble . . .
First, Matthew got in trouble this morning with daddy for calling Spencer a name. Matthew's comeback when daddy put him in timeout was "But, daddy, I love Spencer!" (Cute, isn't he?)

This evolved during the day as he got in trouble with other things. He would say: "But, mommy, I love you!"

Next, he got into the freezer and ate all of the ice-cream bars (with a little help). When I soon found the wrappers on the table and asked who the culprit was, the kids all pointed to Matthew. Matthew looked at me and said "But, mommy, I shared--I shared with everyone!" (yes, I was laughing while trying to explain to him that sharing is good, but that he should have asked first.)

Then, tonight we were asking the kids to clean up the mess they had made, and Matthew was not helping very well, so I reminded him that he should be helping, and his response was "But, I can't, my hands are full!" I told him his hands were not full, and that he needed to help.

Later, when daddy asked him to get ready for bed his response was "I can't, my hands are full of . . . (looking down at his hands) fingers!" Then to prove his point, he grabbed the fingers of one hand with the other. Clever kid!

There really is never a dull moment around here with four kids. I just wonder what it's going to be like when they are all teenagers--they are full of so much personality already!