James' Conscience

I.
"Mommy's home!"
"Yayyy!!!!"
<Owen bounces up and down at the door and holds his hands up expectantly>
"Oh, James! I'm so happy to see you. I missed you so much!"
"I missed you too, Mommy!"
"Owen!!! I missed you!"
"Gah! Gah! Mama!!"
"Will you tell me all about your weekend? What did you boys do? How was Nama's house?"
<holding up George and covering his face> "James took books into his bed at bedtime and read when he was supposed to be sleeping."
"...oh? At Nama's house?"
"Yeah, James read books in his bed. And also there wasn't a spot for his wrench and his screwdriver so he took those into his bed too and he played with them."
"...there wasn't a spot at Nama and Papa's for your wrench and your screwdriver?"
"No, and there wasn't a parking spot for Lightning McQueen either, so James drove him when he was supposed to be sleeping."
<sideways looks between me and J>
"Maybe this explains why he took such long naps every afternoon."
"Thank you for telling us, George."

II.
<playing my trumpet in the living room while Owen dances>
"Daddy, I'm going to reduct you!"
(Everything is prefixed with a "re"-syllable recently. For example, we need to keep Owen out of restruction, and make sure he doesn't rescape from the baby gate.)
"Okay, conduct me while I play!"
<James swings a roof slat around the room wildly, jumps over to where I'm practicing, and deliberately strikes the bell of my trumpet with it.>
"Oh, James. Hold on a minute. We musn't ever do that. You could hurt Daddy if you hit his trumpet while he's playing, and you might hurt the trumpet too."
"Okay, Daddy. Sorry, Daddy."
"That's alright, James. You didn't know. Just don't do it again."
<I play trumpet again, Owen continues to dance and attempt to climb up my knees.>
"Hey James, where'd you go?"
<I find him in the living room, curled up under a blanket in the chair, covering his head with his arms and sobbing.>
"Oh, James. It's okay...I didn't get hurt and it was just an accident. You didn't mean to do it."
"I'm SORRY, Daddy. I'm SORRY, Daddy."
"Come here, everything's okay. You're going to be alright."