Like Mother, Like Son

Caleb is very skilled in the "art of the technicality." He has been spared many a time-out using this technique. On several occasions, I have been fussing about various mishaps only to hear things like, "I did put all of my toys away. These are books." or "I didn't jump off of the couch; I jumped off the loveseat." (Keep in mind that all of these things are said in a purely 'stating the facts' kind of way, with no smartallecky undertones...otherwise, we'd be dealing with a new set of issues. :) ) While these responses are both cute and chuckle-worthy, they have forced us to be very specific in our rules. We now go down very detailed lists of things we can't climb on, jump off of, throw, put in our mouths, feed the animals, flush down the toilet, etc. And, just when I thought we'd covered everything, we had this conversation yesterday:

After spreading a blanket over his kids' table, Caleb proceeded to climb on top of the table.

Mommy: Caleb, we don't climb on tables. You know the rules.
Caleb: (Looking me dead in the eye) I didn't climb on the table.
Mommy: (Shocked that he is lying right to my face) Yes, you did! I just watched you climb up there.
Caleb: But it's not a table anymore; it's a cave.

House Rule #2,075: No climbing on top of caves.

And, just to be on the safe side...

House Rule #2,076: No jumping off of caves.
House Rule #2,077: No throwing caves.
House Rule #2,078: No putting caves in our mouths.
House Rule #2,079: No feeding caves to the animals.
House Rule #2,080: No flushing caves down the toilet.