Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar?

When BE first started living with us, she was four. One day, she came home from preschool with some Valentine’s Day candy. Unwisely, we let her keep it in her room. Just a few days later, she was sent to her room, and when I went to check on her, she was sitting on the floor with her hands behind her back, staring at me. Her room was covered with candy wrappers and she was holding half eaten candy in her hands. I suppose it was partly our fault for letting her keep it in her room in the first place. But, at the time, she showed no remorse. I used to worry about her a lot (now I just do a little) because of what appeared to be a lack of conscience. Thankfully, I don’t see that so much any more (just sometimes). I don’t know if it’s that she’s really remorseful, or if she just knows the kind of reaction we expect from her. Either way, I guess it’s an improvement.

This morning, J came downstairs before breakfast to find that BE and BC had gotten into the cookies in the refrigerator and eaten a whole bunch of them. There were crumbs everywhere. They were both sent to their rooms, but before it was time to leave for church, BE gave me this:

It’s probably hard to see, but it says: “To Mommy, I am sorry that I took the cookies.” (She told me that it is a picture of people having a party – I’m not sure what a party has to do with it, but …) I’d like to think that she knew what she did was wrong and wanted to apologize for it. If I’m right, it’s a big step for us!