True Confessions on New Year's Day

As soon as Adella saw me today at church, she confessed. "I have your clock."

She does not need the clock. She has no conception of time--six o'clock is no different for her than midnight or noon, and she is just learning to comprehend the difference between yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Yet she finds the small clock irresistible, perhaps because she can hold it in her hands, watch the second hand rotate and hear it ticking the seconds away. The clock has a habit of migrating on the days when she visits. This was the first time it had emigrated from the house.

"You mean Pop pop's little red alarm clock?" I asked.

Scott had asked me last night if I knew where it was. Normally one does not need to worry about an alarm clock on New Year's Eve, but we did have to be at church at nine o'clock on New Year's Day.

"Yes." Exuberantly she added, "I brought it back to give to you. It's in my car."

"I am so happy," I replied, adding, "because Grandpa really needs his alarm clock." That was an understatement. Scott is a creature of habit, especially when it comes to his sleep habits. He does not like to vary his sleep routine, and having his little red alarm clock by his bed is a critical part of that routine.

So I thought I would enlist her help. "Adella," I said, "Pop pop's clock is very, very special to him. Do you think we could find some place to put that clock so it does not get lost, some place where it would not get moved?"

She thought a moment. "I know," she replied. "We could put it in Granma's room next to her bed, so Jimbo won't get it."

Scott and I could hardly contain our laughter. It was not her cousin Jim that we were worried about. He does not have sticky fingers. My question, which I had hoped would instill a little self-regulation in Adella, clearly had missed the mark.

Oh, what an appropriate reminder for me on New Year's Day, a day of reflection and resolution. Like me, Adella has no hesitancy confessing her faults. Unfortunately, also like me, she has no hesitancy shifting the blame for her shortcomings to others. Unlike me, she is only four years old. Here's hoping I will put several decades of life experience to good use and finally make some progress on my New Year's resolutions.