knitting=bribery

so today i had the miraculous experience of getting to babysit (my usual kids) but not having to give any time outs! usually Tierney is the the instigator of events that need a time out to fix so i was wondering why she was behaving so nicely today of all days. then i realized it. i was knitting when she was playing nicely with herself and/or gavin. she knew the scarf i was knitting was for her. she also quickly figured out that if she was naughty i stopped knitting and read if i was angry or punished her. neither of these options were ideal for her because she wanted the scarf as soon as possible. so even when i said we should go play outside since it was getting beautiful she knew that would mean i wasn't knitting, so she said she was going to go play with her friend Eden down the street. she even put off going to the pool! that is big for a 5 year old! so in retrospect she definitely knew that playing nice and not bothering me got herself a scarf, also she was playing with me to get something she wanted but overall i'm okay with that because it meant i got a day of peace and relative quiet (for babysitting a 5,7, and 12 year old) and i realized (rather quickly i might add) that she was doing this and now, in turn, i have a totally new weapon to use when she misbehaves! :)