So we are officially Moved, as in all the boxes are unpacked and we are now back into the Random Stuff Accumulation Mode that passes for normal life, and one of the things we have accumulated around here is new friends for the kids. Suzanne (7) has adopted, or been adopted by, a posse of little boys who live in or near our cul de sac, and they now spend their afternoons whizzing around on their bikes so fast I can't keep track of them.
Which is no doubt why last week she and two of the little boys were upstairs in Rebecca's bedroom without permission. As I later reconstructed the crime scene, Suzanne was looking for something behind Rebecca's bed and as she was squeezing in between the bed and the wall she accidentally yanked the curtains down with her, in the process pulling the curtain rod off the wall. Thinking fast, she then spotted the little net bag where Rebecca had been stashing her allowance and pilfered it for $1 to pay off the witnesses. Because, really, when you're going to bribe somebody, why use your own money? It's just so wasteful.
And here's how kids are different. Rebecca (11) was OUTRAGED and SHOCKED that Suzanne had gone into her room WITHOUT PERMISSION, which, even had she asked, Rebecca wouldn't have granted in a MILLION YEARS, because little sisters are so ANNOYING. The fact that her little sister was using her allowance for hush money--that aspect of the crime blew right past her. Whereas for Suzanne, the idea and the execution took about two nanoseconds. Which just goes to show: great criminal minds are born, not made.