Recidivism at its Cutest

Lately Jacob has been having some issues with keeping his little hands off of things that he shouldn't be touching. It seems like every time I look at him, he is doing something he shouldn't be doing - and he knows it. When caught, he immediately reconfigures his face into an "ooops-I-know-I'm-in-trouble-look".

Today he found it particularly difficult to behave. At the babysitter's house, he broke a mirror when he was supposed to be napping. When I told him on the car ride home that I was very upset with him for breaking the mirror, he replied: "Otay, mom. My will buy a new one." But he said it, if you can imagine, with a little bit of attitude. Then, his ever-generous sister added that she would give him the money from her piggy bank because she had "tons of money in there" since she'd been "collecting it everyday".

After we got home, Jacob committed a string of offences that eventually led him to a time-out on the stairs. When I talked to him about it, he readily offered a "sorry" and a hug. I then asked, "Are you going to keep touching things and breaking them?" He nodded. "You are?" I asked, incredulous. "Yes," he admitted. And then he hugged me again and offered another extremely cute apology.

Convinced he had misunderstood, I tried rephrasing. But no matter how I put it, he unequivocally indicated he would continue touching things he shouldn't. And he seemed so sincere. He knew he was in time-out. He knew he was in trouble. But he just couldn't bring himself to lie. So I released him. My little recidivist.