Kaikai's First Lie

There's an app called "Sleep Pillow" by which users can choose from a variety of white noises to help with sleep problems. We've been using it to put Kai to sleep for a few weeks, and it seems to work quite effectively.

Usually Kai loves the sound of the rain, and this is what Bill put on for him tonight.

20 minutes after Bill thought Kai had fallen asleep and left his room, I heard over the baby monitor the jingle of one of the kids' education apps and Kai's little giggles. "That sneaky kid," I chuckled as I headed upstairs. When I opened his bedroom door and caught him playing the game in the dark, out of his bed, I said, "What are you doing, Kai? Are you playing a game?"

The 2-year-old put the device back where he found it, walked up to me and replied calmly, "Kaikai want wave sound. Not rain sound."

I had to try hard not to laugh. I kind of felt a faint sense of pride (I've read somewhere that lying is a sign of intelligence as well), but the sophistication of this lie also terrifies me. At 2 years-4 months-and 14 days-old, he did not panic when he was caught red-handed doing something that (I think) he knew he shouldn't be doing. Instead, he justified it.

Maybe, in his head, he wasn't lying. Maybe his initial intention was to change the kind of white noise we chose for him but he accidentally pressed on the kids' app icon instead. Maybe, just maybe, Kai's cognitive development has just reached another level as suggested in this article.

It took another half an hour to finally get him to fall asleep. The whole time I was up there with him in the dark, my mind was spinning. Kai's a smart kid. There's no doubt about it. While we celebrate his creativity, imagination, and various skills, we also have to start thinking and talking about how we're going handle the inevitable -- the dark side of a human being.

I know I'm gonna be doing some reading tonight before bed. For now, though, I think I'm gonna enjoy Kai's first (attempt to) lie a little while longer. You have to admit, it was pretty good.