Never Too Young To Learn The Blame Game

(I have two daughters, a just-turned-two-year-old, who understands a lot but is not very verbal yet, and an eight-month-old. I have been on the phone regarding a bill that needs attention, and have finished only to find the lounge room covered in corn-flour. Later on, their father calls and, after relating the events of the day, I let the two year old speak to him.)

Dad: “Did you make a mess in the lounge room?”

Daughter: *in the sweetest, most innocent voice ever* “No.”

Dad: “Are you sure? Mum said there was flour on the floor.”

Daughter: “No.”

Dad: “I think you did make a mess.”

Daughter: “NO!”

Dad: “Okay, who put the flour in the lounge room then?”

Daughter: *[name of eight-month-old]*!

(Apparently, even a hardly-verbal, just-turned-two-year-old, already knows how to pass the buck to siblings! Too bad she hasn’t grasped the concept of height and reach.)