People ask us all the time why we call her Taz. Sometimes they seem a little offended on her behalf that we would do such a thing. Just look at her face. Can’t you see it? That little sparkle in her eye. The hint of mischief in her smile. The wheels are always turning and you can tell she’s just looking for something to get herself into. We don’t have to discipline her often. Beyond taking out every single toy she owns at once and running around with the cat by her neck, she doesn’t get into much trouble. She minds well enough for three years old, she is perpetually happy, sleeps well and is fiercely independent.
We’ve noticed over the last several weeks, however, that she’s a thief. In the beginning I would have said she was a hoarder. Every purse and bag or anything that has space to carry something else, is filled with random tidbits. Baby clothes, plastic food, lipgloss, hair barrettes. I figured that was normal and when we work together to clean her room, we would put each little piece back where it belonged. Then I started noticing pajamas and socks tucked in the cabinets of her kitchen and dress up clothes in the empty suitcases under her bed. A few weeks ago my mom was walking home from my aunt’s house next door and was trying to get Soph to hold her hand on the sidewalk. She kept clutching her stomach and Gran finally realized that she had a plastic credit card under her shirt and she was trying to keep from dropping it. We all got a good laugh at how sneaky she was and later she got to walk back next door to return it and apologize. The more days that went by, the more incidents there were. All of our toothbrushes went missing, she stole my wedding rings (thank goodness she remembered where she put them and Ella helped to track them down), she took another toy from a friend’s house, hid makeup at Nana’s and she tried to smuggle a cabbage patch doll from Gran’s by wrapping it up inside her blanket. Perhaps the worst offense was Tuesday when she visited the elementary school with Gran. She stepped into the principal’s office to say hello and asked if she could have a bouncy ball. Gran said she could have one and they went about their way. Later that afternoon, mom was helping her do something and found ten more bouncy balls in her purse?! We made her go back to the school yesterday and return them and tell Mrs. Miller she was sorry for stealing.
There is small part of me that knows this is terrible and we are working on ways to correct it. She isn’t allowed to carry a purse or a bag anywhere now and she HAS to ride in a grocery cart at the store. I hate to set off the alarm because she tucked something into her pockets! The other 75% of me wants to laugh every single time we catch her. It’s funny and we can’t keep a straight face while explaining for the hundredth time why lying and stealing isn’t ok. Ella even told us last night that she “doesn’t know how she feels about being the sister of a thief”. How sad is it that we pretty much have to frisk her when we leave to go anywhere and I’ve started warning people who take her places that they need to check her pockets before they let her leave. Am I the only one dealing with this? Is your kid a thief, too!?
