Sweet and . . .

My boys are the sweetest things ever.  The give me tons of hugs everyday.  Lincoln tells me that I am beautiful a million times a day, followed up by Beau shouting baboon!  (Check out the Dr. Seuss "B" book if that doesn't make sense.)  Lincoln also tells me that he loves me a million times a day, followed up by Beau saying "wov oo too"!  I love these sweet boys.  

But lets be honest, no one is sweet all of the time!  The boys have been described as determined, willful, strong-willed, feisty, highly communicative, and (my favorite) extremely confidant!  Yes, they are super sweet and all of those other words.  Beau is exerting his new found confidence and is sure to tell us exactly what he wants . . . and nothing else is acceptable.  He's the sweetest cuddle bear, but also the most sure-minded little guy I know.  We are trying to deal with his strong personality right now.  He is so sure of what he wants, and that isn't always what is ok.  Beau has been expressing himself with fits for a bit, but I think he's finally understanding that we are not responding to those fits.  He is still very head strong, but he is getting the fact that he's not the boss.  He can always turn on that sweet smile to melt my heart! 

Lincoln has recently decided that if Beau can throw fits, he can too!  (I'm not liking this phase!)  His emotional side comes out in a flash, and he's learning (unfortunately) to talk back.  Linc loves to respond to me with the words I just said to him, so I have to be careful.  If I send him to his room, he tells me that I need to go to my room for being bad.  If I tell him that I am going to let Daddy know that he talked back to me, he tells me that he's going to tell Daddy that I talked back to him!  Lately he has been creative in his back-talk.  Tonight his response to my comment that I didn't like his attitude was that he didn't like my attitude and he was going to throw me in the trash!  Well, that warranted a time out!  After a few moments in solitary confinement, he came in the kitchen and told me he didn't want to talk back anymore.  We hugged it out and promised to treat each other with respect.  I guess each day is a learning day!  But who can be mad at this sweet face?!?! 

I guess my boys are just growing more independent.  I will need to keep up with the ways that they are expressing their feelings and make sure that we are treating each other with kindness.  Linc's teacher talks about respect, kindness and responsibility often, and he is always telling me the lesson he learned that day.  I'm hoping that we can all learn from Ms. Shaye's lessons!!!