Tough love...

...is just that; tough. As Spencer has grown and developed, we've become such great buddies. He's got an incredible vocabulary (mommy brag) and sometimes it is easy to forget he's just three. I found discipline fairly simple a few months back when he'd openly revolt. It was easy to punish a child who'd refer to me as "poop" or call me a "bad mommy" (now that's a FUN stage). What I'm struggling with now is discipling my little pal.

Really, I'm glad Spencer's my little pal. Although I wouldn't change that for anything, I am the Mommy before I'm the friend. Lately, it has become painlfully obvious that Little Man's forgotten my primary role. After insisting for the gazillionth time that he stop jumping on me, I asked him, "How many times do I need to ask you to stop?". His smiling reply, "Two, three, four..." You get the picture. What appears to be cute and funny at three, can become something of a monster later.

Oh, and the Halloween candy is now gone. I warned him a few days ago to stop helping himself without asking first. I caught him trying his best to be one with the cabinet doors-he was trying to hide in the cabinet-as he snacked away on a piece of candy. It was cute, I'll admit, but he was warned before that the candy would be leaving the "building" if such disobedience took place again, and now I had to follow-through. I almost weakened as the tears flowed.

I always thought tough love was hard on kids, but now I realize just how hard it is for Mom.