Rings . . . Tails and the North Pole

Before this day gets away from me I need to blog two conversations that I've had with Lia.

Without giving the entire background to this story I have misplaced my wedding ring and another ring that I have worn since my first trip to China. Both rings were here Friday and are now no where to be found. Todd and I have talked to both kids and neither of them has a clue to where they are. Yesterday Lia said that she thought that Wilbur had taken them. Wilbur if you have followed this blog is her imaginary friend and at times husband. This is how our conversation went:

Lia: Mom, Wilbur took your rings.
Me: Lia, you need to talk with Wilbur. I'm very sad that I can't find my rings.
Lia: Wilbur, Mom wants her rings. . . . Wilbur said my brothers and sisters took them.
Me: Lia, do you know where my rings are?
Lia: No, my brothers and sisters took them.
At this point Todd takes Lia to her room and tells her to think about where she might have seen the rings. A few minutes pass and Lia comes running from her room:

"Mom, Mom, my brothers and sisters took your rings to the North Pole! Hurry, we got to get there quick and find them."

This morning I woke up extra early to enjoy some quiet time and reading. I was sitting on our couch, sipping tea and enjoying my devotion on Colossians when my sweet Lia-Joy woke up. Really? She never gets up this early. I explained that it's too early for her to be up but she wants to be with me and so I say that she can sit with me quietly while I read. Let's just say my sweet Lia has not had a lot of joy this morning. She wants to eat chocolate and I have told her that we can have some later but that just makes her angry and she has had two "go to your room and calm down" moments in the last couple of hours. The last time she was disrespectful and I held her for a minute and explained that if she had another outburst or was disrespectful that she would have a spanking. This is what she said:

"Mom, I don't like spankings. Spankings are disgusting and they hurt my tail."
I tried really, really hard not to laugh but I couldn't help it. So much for my moment of discipline.