She's also a little thief or klepto. She has hiding places for the stuff she steals, all in direct conflict with her angelic demeanor.

Also watched her create a diversion for her mom at what is probably a Walmart by crying to the manager about the death or hunting of seals or whatever it was. She still had ME melting for her even though I knew it was supposed to be fake crying.

No, glorifying these devious little things? Not good in the real world. However, it does show the reality of LG's in these times. They learn so much more and so much faster with info coming at them from all directions, which was not the case before.

That they are learning how to be crafty or tricky is a statement about what's wrong with society. Many people will say yes Eeyore, we know this already, thanks. Many other people don't have that skill-set to realize it. This latter group is who scares me. They themselves are impressionable adults, and their numbers are growing. Entertainment alone is enough to make them agree with things which are, in reality, toxic to any society. Some laugh at what they know is wrong. Some laugh and then agree with what is wrong.

Anyway, enough of my depressive sidebar.

There was a former LG in my life who I was close to. Her best friend was definitely not even remotely cute like our AK, but she WAS sharp like AK. My girl's mom expressed a combination of bemusement and concern to me about what a klepto her daughter's friend was, actually stealing some of her toys and stuff. She would visit her mother, see a stolen item, and bring it back home. So it IS an actual thing for some little girls. Hell, it's a thing for teens and grown women too (usually takes the form of shoplifting), but it's more interesting that some prepubescent LG's already do it in single digit ages.

Swiping stuff wasn't her only talent. I watched my sweet LG's friend charm all the parents. While she let me see her naughty side, she purposely let me see her skill in charming other adults as a sweet little angel. There was also concern that she and my LG had been up to ..something.. in the bathroom while taking baths together. Mum, to her credit, was hesitant to barge in when things got a little too quiet, but expressed concern to me about this as well.

Finally, this girl had me pegged from the first second she met me. She KNEW that I was an adult who "like-liked" LG's. How the hell she knew it so quickly, I will never know. She would say things to me just to make me know that she knew, but without coming out and saying it directly. She would make fun of me by calling me an older age than she knew I was.

There were others things I can't really share here, unfortunately. Things that REALLY told me she knew what I was, and that she was a risk taker who liked to get away with things on the sly. I never did anything questionable, mostly because I knew I needed to be careful around her.

A part of me felt like she and I could have done some things together, and that she never would have told. Another part of me knew she was very dangerous in her selfishness, so I just knew better. Years later, I became pretty sure she was some sort of descriptive word ending in "path". I had just never met one who was that young before (single digits). It was a very strange experience.

I guess AK reminds me of the parts that got me a little excited, but in a much more talented and pretty sorta way than my experience. I wouldn't trust my resolve nearly as much had it been Anna-Kat who fell into my real-life experience:)