Friendly Four-Year-Olds...

Setting the scene:

We have just arrived home from Fit-Tots with lunch and we pull into the garage. I am getting Jeremy out of the truck.

Little voice from inside our garage: "Hi!"

Me: "Hello Gavin. Welcome home. How was your vacation?"

Gavin: "OK. I got a haircut. I just rode my bike to my Grandma's house. It was a long ways away. I had to take a nap while I was riding it."

Note: Gavin is 4. Four-year-olds fib sometimes...

Me: "Wow, I bet that was fun."

Gavin: "Did you go to Old McDonalds?"

Me (walking into the house): "No, we went to Wendy's. We're going to go in and eat lunch, OK?"

Gavin (following me into the house): "OK." (Gavin goes into Jeremy's room and they begin to 'play')

Me: "Alright, it's time for us to eat. We'll see you later Gavin. Jeremy, let's show Gavin to the door." (Gavin leaves)

We're in the middle of lunch and a door opens. The door from the INSIDE of our garage.

Little voice: "Hello? Where are you at?"

Me: "Hello Gavin. We are eating. You cannot walk into someones house without knocking. Do your Mommy and Daddy know you're here?"

Gavin: "My Daddy's not home."

Me (slightly exasperated): "Does your Mommy know you're here?"

Gavin: "Yes. She told me I could come over."

Me (thoughtful since I am SURE she could not have seen me pull into the driveway and has no way of knowing I'm home): "I think you're fibbing. Go home and tell your Mommy where you are so she won't worry." (Gavin leaves - again).

We finish lunch, and go to change Jeremy's diaper.

I hear little footsteps in the hall.

Gavin: "I knocked this time, you just didn't hear me."

Me: "OK. Did your Mommy say it was OK for you to come over?"

Gavin: "Yes."

So we played for about 5 minutes and Gavin asks to watch a movie.

Me: "Jeremy has to nap now. I will let you pick out a movie and you can take it home and watch it."
Gavin: "OK."

Gavin picks out a movie. We walk the movie to Gavin's house (what, you thought I was going to let him take it home by himself?). When we knock on the door Gavin's mom comes to the door and I say, "Gavin wanted to watch a movie so I told him he could borrow this one."

Mom is CLEARLY surprised.

Gavin's Mom: "Gavin, what are you doing bothering them?"

Me: "It's OK. He can just borrow the movie and bring it back whenever."

Gavin's Mom: "I'm sorry, I thought he was playing at Wyatt's (our other neighbor)."

So clearly, Gavin did not ask his Mom if he can come over. Four-year-olds......