For the most part, she has been delightful since she turned four last May. She captivates her audience with her creative stories, befriends everyone, is learning to write like a whiz and modifies her adverbs better than most adults.

Bottom line: she is smart.

From the above statement, you might think I am frustrated. And you might be correct. When she finally potty trained last February, we thought we were home-free. We were wrong. It started with a summer of travel and a few accidents occurred. We let them slide. After all, we were off schedule.

It’s different from the power struggle we once had because she now tries to hide the fact that she did it. I have heard explanations of a possible growth spurt or she gets too wrapped up in what she is doing and forgets. We have thought maybe she’s not getting enough attention so have made the effort to spend more one-on-one time with her.

She had yet another poop incident tonight that we made her clean up. Jamie spent a long time talking to her about it and assured me they had an “understanding.” An hour later, she did it again. For the first time ever, I sent her to her room for the rest of the night, banning her from watching the Santa show on TV with us.

Fortunately, I have a lot of spare.

But not a lot in the sanity department.

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog

If you missed the action, let me give you the full story. Jamie bought me a TomTom navigational device for my birthday a couple of years ago.

Because evidently he thinks I am directionally challenged.

And he would be correct.

We only used it to gain our bearings on road trips and kept it in the middle console of my Pilot. Prior to our trip to Boston in October, we went to grab it…and it was gone. We searched everywhere but found nothing. We didn’t really know when it went missing because it had been several months since we had last used it. I had a sneaking suspicion I had brought it in the house and forgotten where I stashed it.

My suspicion was wrong.

Last week, Jamie was home alone when a man came to the door. Jamie hesitated to open it, thinking it was a solicitor of some kind but did it anyway.

“Did you have a TomTom stolen?” the man asked.

Jamie asked affirmatively.

The man then went on to explain that he is an electrician who was working on some wiring problems at a seedy hotel a couple of miles from our house. And in the ceiling of one of the rooms, he discovered that someone had stashed our TomTom, along with an iPod FM module.

So, yes. The few people who guessed the seedy hotel are the winners! Our neighborhood is the closest development to this hotel so evidently these creeps had gone on a joy ride one night. The electrician was able to track us down because we had programmed our home address into the TomTom.

And for those of you who guessed “a” that I found it hidden underneath Cheese Nips in the middle console, SHAME ON YOU for doubting my intelligence.

Besides, I don’t even like Cheese Nips.

But in your defence, I am blonde….

So, let’s hear it: what have you had stolen? Was it ever recovered?

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog