Liar Liar

Every day I give the girls fruit with their breakfast and vegetables with lunch and dinner. They don't always eat it, but I try. I usually make them eat at least two or three bites, even if they protest, which they usually do. Loudly. Yesterday I gave everyone cut up strawberries with their oatmeal. Sonya and Georgia ate most of theirs, but Lana hadn't touched hers when she announced she was done with her breakfast. She had barely touched her oatmeal, but what else is new?

"No, Lana you have to eat some of your strawberries before you get down," I told her.

"Urrrggghh! BUT..." she started to protest.

"LAAANNNAAA...." I started to argue back.

"FINE!" She said. Then she thought about it for a minute and asked, "Can I take them in the li-ing woom?"

"Alright," I gave in thinking I had a better chance of her eating a few as she was playing, and not confined to the chair.

She hopped down from the dining table, carried her bowl to the coffee table, and set it down. I reminded her that she had to eat them and I didn't want them just sitting there. She agreed.

I went about my business of cleaning the kitchen. I heard her take her strawberries and go back to my bedroom where Andy was getting ready for work and Georgia was already playing. About two minutes later she came running in the kitchen, excited and happy with herself. She proudly held up the empty bowl and said,

"Mama yook!"

"You ate ALL of your strawberries?!" I asked excitedly. She nodded her head with a big smile on her face.

"NA-UH!" I said joking around with her.

"YUP!" she yelled back.

"NICE job Lana!" I commended her.

She placed the empty bowl on the counter and merrily ran out of the kitchen. One minute later Andy marched her back to the kitchen holding on to her hand. He looked at Lana and said,

"Tell her, Lana. Tell mommy the truth."

"The truth about what?" I asked curiously. Lana was half hiding behind Andy now with a shit eating grin on her face. Andy asked her to tell me again, but she just kind of giggled.

"What happened?" I asked, more toward Andy now.

He prompted Lana again, "Did you eat those strawberries, Lana?" She slowly shook her head no.

"She didn't eat them?" I asked Andy, a bit surprised.

"Well, she might have had one or two, but she fed most of them to Georgia," he informed me. Then he looked at Lana again and said, "Lana we don't lie. That's not a good choice. Don't lie to us again, okay?"

Lana just continued to look at him with her guilty grin and nodded her head. I also told her it wasn't nice to lie and next time she would be in trouble if she didn't tell us what really happened. I'm not sure she understood, but I have a feeling this won't be the last time we deal with this. The thing is, it's not even her lying that bothers me, but the fact that she did it so well. She had me completely convinced she ate all those strawberries, without a hint of "maybe she isn't telling the truth". With Sonya I always know when she's lying, but Lana, I'm afraid she's going to be good at it.

Have I mentioned how scared I am for the teenage years?