Paci Maneuvers

We have been having some battles over Colsen's beloved paci (pacifier) lately. I am of the opinion that he is now too old to walk around with the silly thing in his mouth; Colsen believes it still the very best object on earth and he will love it until the day he dies. So we compromised, I naively believed, that he could have it only when he was in his bed. Colsen nodded externally to the proposed compromise, but apparently on the inside he was shouting with glee, "Let the games begin!"

So now he's been using all kinds of tactics to keep that thing in his mouth whenever and wherever he wants. He started out with a strong winner: everytime I saw him walking around with it and told him to put it in his bed, he would come running over to me and say in an oh-so-sweet voice, "But I just want a hug with my paci!" And because I'm his mother, I chose to ignore the manipulation therein, and settled down for a snuggle every time.

But once he ran the bases with that one, he started some new strategies. He's appealed to our compassion for animals (even stuffed ones):

Me: Colsen, what is that paci doing down here?? Go take it upstairs!
C: No -- it's for Cos-Cos! (his stuffed animal dog)

And like a true negotiator, he's tried to prove the absolute practical necessity of the object, such as:

Me: Colsen, why is that thing in your mouth down here??

C: It's my mask for when I'm mowing the lawn! See? (pushes a chair around the living room) [Pete does wear a mask when he mows the area in the way back of our yard]

He's also used some stealth maneuvers... we'll often catch a glimpse of someone slinking around in the shadows, or see just 2 eyes peering around the corner. And then all we have to say is, "Colsen...." and he knows he's been caught red-handed -- or red-mouthed.

Then, when I saw this scene unfold in front of me the other day, I definitely recognized this technique...

I had heard him gingerly walking down the stairs and then into our living room. When I looked over at him, this is what I saw:

It's funny to see you're never too young to resort to our age-old method for dealing with contrary situations: DENIAL.

And so the battle continues...

I know, real suspenseful, right? :)