Attack of the Boys

The kids are supposed to be downstairs cleaning up the rest of the basement - I gave them a huge head start. I can hear this: Jack: "Elaina, quit crying. And no, you cannot go to the bathroom. (Elaina sobs) Scotty, you know what is going to happen. We do all the work, and crying Elaina goes upstairs and tells mom we were being mean. (Elaina sobs) And then mom says, 'Awe, poor Elaina, just stay up here with me' and then we finish all the cleaning ourselves like every other time and Elaina does nothing. (Elaina sobs) She gets out of it every time. (Elaina sobs) No, Ben, she is faking all that crying again, she cannot go upstairs. Elaina, clean." Wow, perhaps I've let Elaina off the hook a few too many times. And Elaina is still sobbing. Not even sure why. I think she just really does not want to clean and so she is crying. So, I just called Jack upstairs and it turns out she is sobbing the words, "I miss Tavy!" (My inlaws" dog who passed away a while back.) This has happened before. Is it an excuse not to clean, or is she actually sideswiped with the reality of the dog's death every now and then? I really do not know. She is quite unusually attached to dogs. Not sure what to do with this one. A manual would be good.