Laundry basket taken into custody

My sweet Little Jaylin, hoarder and thief extraordinaire has been at it again. From hand soap, to make up, to receipts, and the other kids new Christmas toys, things have been disappearing at an alarming rate. I checked and checked her room and couldn't find any of it. Hmmmmm...It appears my little darling has gotten smarter!

Because of the hoarding problem, she has a large laundry basket that she has to keep all of her "possessions" in. It is kept in another room and she has to ask to get things out. It is crammed full of stuff most of us, probably all of us, would assume be thrown away, but it makes her happy, and so, as long as it's contained, I leave it alone.

She was having trouble finding her art stuff today so I was helping her. Lo and behold...the basket was full of all of the missing items, and some I had not even realized were gone!

Instantly, Jaylin begins her yelling, "I did not put your stuff in here" and so on and so forth. She thinks by talking fast and getting loud I will give in and send her to her room...But Mama actually got to sleep last night so... I said "Honey I agree". She looks at me weird. Again starts "seriously mom I didn't take your stuff, I don't know how it got there". "I hear you honey. You are saying you did not take these things" I say almost in a whisper to prevent myself from showing aggravation or sarcasm (thank you Deborah Hage for that trick!)

I give her a minute, she stares at me, looking victorious, "yay Mom was stupid enough to believe me!" her eyes are yelling!

"Well I guess there is only one thing to do" I say, "Basket, you know we do not steal in this house! I am putting you in basket jail until you tell the truth and change your negative behavior! We can't have stealing going on in this house"

And I picked the offending basket up, and locked it in my wardrobe, where it is certain to keep is thieving self under control!

And honestly, the look on her face is priceless.

I smile and tell her I am so sorry her basket has been doing those things and I hope someday soon it can straighten up because I simply did not have time to remove her toys before locking it away....