It was around this time that we started to notice how our dishes and silverware were inexplicably disappearing. One night as Adam and I were cleaning the kitchen he looked over and said, "Is it me or do we have less plates, cups, spoons...come to think of it, less of EVERYTHING! Where is it all going?!" We began to search the house but found nothing.
We pulled all four kids together and asked what they knew about it. Their little faces looked up at us with complete confusion. "Okaaaay Guys. Spoons and forks can't just get up and walk away...what's happening to it all?" -crickets- Not one of them had any idea of what we were talking about.
The next night, we decided to change things up a bit. Instead of going straight from the table to the kitchen to start cleaning after dinner, Adam and I sat and watched the kids to see what happened.
"Okay guys! Let's take our dishes to the sink!" One by one, they got up and put their spoons, forks, cups, bowls...everything...on top of their plates. It was actually cute to watch all four of them carefully balance their pile as they walked like ducks in a row to the kitchen.
Christian carefully put his dishes in the sink and walked away. Ethan put his pile down in but kept his spoon so he could jump back and toss it in shouting, "He shoots, HE SCORES!!!" Little Preston lifted his heavy load and barely made it over the side of the sink...and then came Lauren Elizabeth. She followed the boys to a point but then turned and went another way. "What is she doing?" I whispered to Adam. "I don't know but we're about to find out."
She walked her little three year old self right to the trash can and with the whole pile in her hands, dumped it all in. "Lauren!!! Why did you do that?!" We both said in shock. She shrugged her tiny shoulders at us like we were crazy and said, "I'm frowing dem in da sink!"
We dug everything out and explained how she HAD to put them in the actual kitchen sink. "That one is too big up though."
oooooof course it is.
It's hard to tell just how much she has "put in the sink" and we probably don't even want to know. At least we've learned that one of her chores won't be to take care of the cat anytime soon. With our luck, one of these nights she would decide to give the poor cat a bubble bath in her "kitchen sink" after dinner too. (meow)