My baby is growing up...

Mike and I have been having a problem teaching Seeger to turn off lights lately. He seems to leave every light in the house on and this is especially frustrating when he leaves the bathroom light on.

(In particular because he likes to close the door. So we often walk by the closed bathroom door and see the light on so we think there is someone in there. Or worse, we don't think anyone is in there when really there is someone so we end up busting in on them.)

We've finally started putting him in time out if he uses the bathroom and doesn't turn off the light. (This is the method we used to teach him to remember to flush the toilet and it worked pretty well.) As a result, he's been going to timeout about once every other day. He doesn't enjoy it but it's not devastating to him.

(Lately, several devastating things have happened to him. Like the other day when he forgot to take something to school for the letterbox. Or when I gave Nicklas the Spongebob bowl instead of him. Or when I didn't get the right ratio of milk to cereal one morning. The kid has been bursting into tears on a regular basis lately. But I digress...)

Last night, it happened again. Seeger used the bathroom, closed the door and came to sit with me on the couch (we all watch Survivor together on Thursday's.)

Me: "Seeger, did you turn off the light?"

Seeger: "Yes."

Me: "Seeger, are you sure you turned off the light?"

Seeger: "Yes, I did."

Not believing him, I stand up from the couch and start to head to the bathroom.

Seeger: "I don't want you to look!"

Ignoring him, I check and discover the light is still on.

Me: "Seeeee-geeeeerrrrr... (said in my deep, disapproving mom voice.) You just lied to me. Lying is bad. You need to go up to bed right now.

Of course, he burst into tears. But he went straight upstairs to his room. He knew he was busted.

It still broke my heart to hear him cry though!