Life on Cottage Hill: PAGES

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

mr bossy pants

I have no idea where he gets this from, no idea at all, but Jackson is one independent little guy. Not just the independence that all toddlers exude when they're getting into their "me do it" phase- no, this is more of an innate trait that has been present since birth. But, this week, it has taken on an entirely new life of its own, transforming itself into full blown bossiness. A few of the things Jackson has said to me just today:

First thing when he woke up this morning he told me to "go make your bed, mama"... I told him I would after breakfast and while he dropped the issue, he did so with a look that told me I better not forget. A little later I was dressing Audrey in a purple dress. He told me "no, no mommy, not the purple one, Audrey wear pink one" and then proceeded to go into her closet to point to the exact pink one he wanted her to wear. Well, the peanut was almost entirely dressed and I wasn't going to undress her just to obey bossy pants so I told him "no" and he repeatedly insisted on the pink one so finally I just lied and said the pink one was too big. 

He also likes to tell me to "not eat his treats" which just makes me feel like somewhat of a fatty who sneaks her little boy's treats, but I have never eaten one of his treats (fruit snacks) ... so I guess he's also being proactively bossy, just in case I was thinking about it. He does the same when picking out his "pee pee sticker"... "no, mama, no you pick it out, me pick it out." 

Tonight we were sitting on the couch together and he was holding his blankie. He got up to go into the kitchen and right before leaving the room he stopped, turned around and very sternly (and while pointing his finger) said, "do NOT mess up my spot, mom."

Poor peanut. I can only imagine she'll be his biggest boss-around victim...

While the bossiness is a trait we hope he'll soon lose- with force if needed- he has also been developing the fine art of negotiation which could actually become quite helpful later in life. I told Dan the other night how Jackson is seriously one shrewd negotiator. He passes up zero chances to counter any type of offer- or demand for that matter.

Jackson, if you take 3 more bites of your sandwich you can get down from the table will inevitably be countered by, "no mama, not three, just one"... 

Today he told me he needed to go potty so I told him to take off his choo-choos (underpants) and go potty. He looked at me like "who are you telling what to do" and said "no, mama, me sing ABCs and then I'll go potty." Whatever, kid. 

At bed time I always put him to bed and each night now that he's in a "big bed" I lay with him and we say our prayers, talk about our day and I tuck him in. Now he negotiates how much time I'll lay there with him. "Mama lay with me for five minutes?" and I'll say "yes, of course" and then it's, "mama lay with me for ten minutes?"... no baby, just five. "mama lay with me for eight minutes?"....


Every single morning when he wakes up the first thing to inevitably come out of his mouth is, "good morning, mama, me get treat?" I look at him and say, "Jaaaack-son"as in "do you really think you're going to get by with that for breakfast?" He then giggles as if to say, "no, but you know I have to try."

Who is this child? Where did he come from? Oh, right, he's mine. He is totally mine...

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