trouble is his middle name

let me clarify, before i even begin, that i knew the moment that little stick showed two pink lines i would have a child just as stubborn and mischievous as his parents. i make no excuses about what he was going to be naturally born with. and with two middle names already, adding 'trouble' has become quite a mouthful.

yesterday was a true example of the trouble little c can create when he's given just a moment to get into it. painting the scene: mom exits the living room/play room to pop a casserole into the oven for dinner. while gone, one little boy takes advantage of the missing momma to pull out the xbox, daddy's prize possesion, from the tv stand and drag it to the middle of the floor where he turns it on and attempts to put a dvd case, not dvd itself, into the tray. reenter mom to the scene---

i quickly surveyed the room and made my way to the center of the destruction to the mistreated gaming unit. i put on my best stern face and voice and proceeded to scold my son about playing with daddy's xbox, when we have asked him not to touch it on many an occasion. while crouching over it, picking up the scattered dvds and righting the unit, my sweet naughty boy put his hands on his knees, caulked his head to the side, and smiled at me. trying not to break my disciplinary tactic, i frowned and told him that it was not funny and mommy was not happy. he knows better than to touch what's in the tv stand and what he did was naughty. to my utter surprise, he then walked the few steps to my side, crouched again, rubbed my back, made an 'aww' sound, and leaned in to kiss me smack on the mouth, smiling the whole time. my reaction horrified me, as every stern bone in my body shattered into a thousand pieces and i found myself smiling and laughing.

following this incident, once all had been righted in the living room, i turned around to find him missing again. knowing just where he would have gone, i made a hasty move to the kitchen to see what he could possibly be putting in the dogs' water bowl this time. (let me backtrack a bit by saying that nearly all toys end up in there at some point and i had honestly thought that, after a few days of him steering clear of it, that the fascination was over..) well, to answer my pondering, he was seated cross legged in the bowl (not the first time) and was using my cell phone as a boat. i quickly grabbed my cell phone and set it on the counter and stood back to survey the scene, all the while repeating 'that is naughty! what has mommy told you about the dog water?! yuck!' and all the while the reaction i received was smiling and laughter at what he clearly felt was a funny stunt. again, i broke. again, i laughed. how will i ever discipline my child if he can break my defenses down so quickly? i must learn, somehow, or the results will possibly be unfavorable as the trouble escalates with age...

but, for now, i share this as a light-hearted story. i'll get back to you in six months when he paints the dog red or throws a bag of flour all over my kitchen. then there may be more tears than laughter.