There's a penny in the toilet

Abby came out of the bathroom and said, "There's a penny in the toilet; does anyone know how it got there?"
I said nope. Chloe said "No, I don't know...I didn't put it there."
We asked if she was sure, she said "I went to the bathroom this morning, and all I remember putting in there was toilet paper.... I mean, I guess I could have done it by accident, but I don't remember. I mean, if it was me- I don't remember anything about it."
After a little bit of coaxing, she admitted to putting the penny in the toilet. She was pretty upset thinking she was in trouble.
She went to sit on Abby's lap and we assured her that no matter what, if she told us about things and asked us for help, she'd never get in trouble for them. We talked about being curious about things and how that is exactly what we want her to be.
She finally told us (in surprising amount of detail for having had no recollection) about how she was curious about if the penny would float in the toilet, or what would happen, so she dropped it in there.
It did take some convincing that she wasn't in trouble, but soon she melted into Abby's hug on the chair as Abby reassured her. Then Abby explained that even though she was just curious about the penny, she was going to have to figure out a way to get it out of there.
We wanted her to know that no matter what we are on her side an she can always count on us for advice and support, but she's got to fix it somehow.
Together they came up with a plan and Chloe sprang into action. she felt good and excited when her plan worked.

I really hope that these small lessons will stick with her as she gets older her problems get bigger. I hope.

Chloe Frame Wall

We got a new refridgerator.  Actually, Abby got it for us for Valentines Day!!  It's big and stainless steel and looks lovely in our kitchen.  With the new addition, we are no longer able to post Chloes masterpieces of art and schoolwork on the fridge.  So we made this wall of frames near the bottom of the stairs.  It was fun to put together and we can rotate Chloes work as often as we like.  Chloe insists that the penguin picture is unfinished, yet we love it just the way it is.