Kids, kids, kids!!!!!!

My kids amaze me each and every day. But my little Maddie puts the icing on the cake.....One would never know that she is as sick/weak as she is. She is a vibrant little ball of fire. Through all of her surgeries and her sicknesses, she has managed to still hold a huge smile on her face (usually a guilty smile). Lately, she is really pushing the envelope with me. She knows I feel sorry for her and she is starting to play it up.

Maddie is officially a Klepto. She's pretty good at it too. She steals, or at least tries to, from every store we go in and from every person that comes in our house. I'm not proud of this by any means, I'm just sayin' she has perfected the art of thievery. To make matters worse, she doesn't even realize it's wrong. Yeah, she'll go hide the stuff that she stole, but then as soon as you ask for it she'll lead you right to her stash. The concept of taking other peoples' things just doesn't click. My brother and his girlfriend were visiting a few months ago and their camera went missing. First thing, I asked Maddie where the camera went. "Hmmm." she said. "Let me see." She went right into her room and dug the camera out from under her bear collection. "Here it is!" She was so proud that she found it. Oh, here's another prime example....I was getting her homework out of her book bag a few months ago and to my surprise Maddie had smuggled a couple light bulbs still in their box. Yes, she stole them from school! Why, I don't know. I asked her and she said, "Mom, I don't know. I need them." Don't even ask me.....I could see a child stealing candy or toys, but light bulbs? And yes, she got caught stealing again today, but not until we got home from the store. Tucked tightly in her hand was a little golden angel. Needless to say, we took the angel back and couldn''t express how sorry we were. As I began to tell Maddie what an awful thing she just did, she let me know quite clearly that she could have taken two of the angels, but she went ahead and dropped one on the floor. Like that was going to make me proud of her.....Isn't it crazy?