Ya win some, lose MORE & learn in the process!

I'm exhausted today...or, from the mouth of the two year old Taylor, "I'm exsausage, Mom!" Gosh, I miss my kids bein' little, miss that little girl who would crawl up on the nearest table and dance anytime she saw fit. I know it'd take big bucks to get Matt to break it down to Back in Black these days, too...I'd pay it but somehow, I'm thinkin it won't be as cute @ 13 as it was @ 2... I still say so many things like they used to when they were learning to use "big words". Anytime Josh or I would run to the store, little voices would yell, "Bring me back a so-prize!!" So now I ask 'em, "Want me to bring you back a so-prize?", when I'm headed to town. They look at me like I've lost my mind and roll their eyes. Guess they're too grown up for all that now. What I wouldn't give to spend a week back then with them. But back then, all I could think was, "UGH! I'll be SOOOO glad when they're grown enough to take care of themselves!!". Careful what ya wish for, I reckon...it comes about too soon as it is.

Had my nephews last nite...I discovered how ill equipped I am at handling a two year old these days when Bronc is around....he wears me OUT! He decided that 4 am would be a good time to start a Spongebob Marathon this morning. He woke me up yellin, "Aunt Pitta....Bumbob???" Aw, why not? It IS four, afterall...what did I think I was gonna do? Sleep til like, what, six??? Sleep is sooo overrated, ya know. I'd bet a silver dollar that lil monkey is asleep right now and I will be fightin my eyelids all day! He's at the "parrot" stage...he mimics everything we say. I told Taylor to "knock it off", he told her to "NAW-TIT ON, Sissy!" Funny, but can be very bad too....all ya gotta do is mess up once and you'll get to fight for the next 6 months to wipe a four letter word from his little mind!! My little sister uses all sorts of choice phrases...and now, so does Bronc. But I remember many a tearful fit tryin to get Tracker to quit usin' the "F" word...he used it correctly too. I got lots of advice from everyone on how to stop him:

"You need to wash that kid's mouth out with soap!" I had to wrestle him down and sit on top of him but I did it...he'd cuss as he spit Dawn dish soap out all over the both of us.

"That boy needs his butt whipped!" Tried that too....it didn't work, he cussed and, besides, it made me feel like crap.

"You put him in the corner/time out long enough and he'll LEARN!" Wrong again, but nice try.

There really are kids out here in the real world who just will not fit the molds everyone thinks they ought to! I gave up tryin to scare him into submission and just hoped beyond hope he wouldn't give anyone a cussin' at church or in Walmart. When I quit makin' a big deal of it, of course, he quit. We took him to see The Santa Clause 3 at some point during this time and that Jack Frost character scared him a little. He climbed over into my lap, pointed at the screen, and yelled, "MOMMA! Tell that guy a bad word!!" :) He was gonna leave the cussin' to the grown up this time. It was a "proud momma" moment as me and the kids all died laughin' and several people turned around to stare at us.