The Faces of Mischief

I have said since it since she was born.  Riley is tricking Ashley and I.  She is currently deceiving us by being cute, and funny.  Yes, Hannah and Cooper were, and are, cute and funny.  But Riley is different.  There is something in her face that tells me that we are in for some trouble with her.  And, so are her sisters.  Let me tell you with some photos.  Behind the cuteness is some mischief.

 Here Riley is deep in thought about what to do.  She is contemplating how best to get away with some sort of prank, all while having her sisters take the blame for it.  Cute...yes.  Mischievous...indeed.

In the second photograph we see Riley having already completed her deed and is now looking for somewhere to discard the evidence.  She knows she has to locate it somewhere that we can find it, and also someplace  close enough to her sisters to implicate them, without them knowing.

In the third photograph we have Riley, having already carried out her deed, delighting in the fact her sisters are in trouble and getting blamed for whatever it is that she has planned out and executed perfectly.  Just look at the brow and the smile...she is good.

Riley's unsuspecting sisters have at this point replied to our accusations with, "It wasn't us, it was Riley!"  Riley looks at us as if to ask, "Who, me?"  Then, she angrily looks at her falsely accused sisters as if to ask them, "How can you blame me, I can barely walk?"

And in the last photograph we see Riley rejoicing in having completely suckered her father while engaging  me in a game of "come and chase me, daddy" as she takes off running.   She has gotten away with it and she is happy.  I am clueless. 

I tell you friends, Riley is already a master.  This is a child who is learning from her sisters, who were pretty good themselves at creating havoc and getting away with it.  Cooper could have stolen and eaten a bag of Cheetos, had orange powdered cheese on her face and hands, and deny taking them after being caught.  She would be so convincing you almost had to believe her.  Why?  She could fabricate a ludicrous story as to how she came to be covered in Cheeto dust because the Cheeto truck overturned near the house and she helped pick them all up.  And as ridiculous as the story would sound, it would also be plausible.  But as I have said before, Cooper has a tell when she is lying.  She will follow her lie with this:  "I'm serious."

The sky could be blue and Cooper could say, "The sky is a reddish orange color today."  Just by looking at her face, and without looking overhead, I would believe her until she followed the assertion with, "I'm serious."  I detect liars for a living and I have to say, these little people are good.

Riley is learning from the professionals.  She is mastering her craft as we speak.  She is likely already thinking of her next deed to get her sisters into trouble.  And when she has come up with her idea, we will see this:

It is sort of her "ah ha" face.  As in, "ohhhhhhh, I got a good one."  Trouble I tell you...we are in T R O U B L E.