"This is the easy part!" is the comment that my Mom makes to me every time I share with her my trials and tribulations as a Mother. She should know, she did it three times with my sister, brother and I and we all turned out perfectly fine.
We have now entered what I am going to term as the TORRENTIAL THREES in our household! Some people call them the "trying threes", not for us.....it's a torrent and it's come on strong! Our son Mason is , well, the only way I can describe him is very strong willed. He knows what he wants and how he wants to do things. He has always shown Tim and I that he wants to be independent - getting dressed on his own, pouring his own milk, just about everything. "Me do it!" is a common phrase that we have heard out of his mouth for a long time; unlike his older brother Jack who is happier than a clam when he can get someone to do something for him.
How can two children be so completely different?!? They are from the exact same gene pool....and in this respect they are like night and day!
The past two evenings have been less than stellar at our house and it's simply because of the sheer determination of our wonderful 3 year old. The night before last, it was over when he ate dessert. He asked for dessert. We told him that he needed to take a bath FIRST and then he could have dessert (simple right?) - NOT! He screamed "Me have dessert AFTER bath Mamma!" as he stood in the bathroom bare naked and refused to get into the tub! Obviously thinking he was asking for dessert BEFORE bath and not AFTER because when I'd say "Fine, you can have dessert AFTER you take your bath" he'd just scream louder and repeat himself "Me have dessert AFTER bath Mamma!". Eventually we compromised and the world was a happy place again, I'll just leave it at that.
Last night, it was discovered that a black magic marker had found it's way to the hardwood flooring in our breakfast room. Thankfully, the floor is going to be replaced soon, so Tim and I were not too concerned, but when it was discovered that our cute 3 year old had done it, we wanted to show him that 1) markers only go on paper (which he already knows) and 2) he needed to clean it up since he had made the mess, I went to get a damp sponge to wipe it up as best as we could. Well....the sponge wasn't wet enough for Mason so he wanted to go soak it in the bathroom sink and carry it back through the house to the breakfast room. NOT! I tried to explain to him that it was wet enough and that he didn't need more water and was met with the "No Mamma! I do it!" screech that he does! UGH! When he yelled at me at the top of his lungs, he was very quickly escorted to his room where he screeched louder until he made himself sick (nice huh Mom?) and eventually calmed down enough to listen to me and gave in, understanding that he was NOT going to win that battle.
It's so difficult sometimes to reason with a screaming child. Especially one who so wants to be bigger and do things HIS way regardless of whether his way is the right way or not. I pick my battles......if it's something that a lesson can be learned from, I will stand my ground. If it's something that isn't that big of a deal....I will compromise to come to a resolution (wearing big boy underpants OVER his pull-up to school) but whatever it is I always hear my Mom's voice in the back of my head reminding me "This Is The Easy Part!".
Someday, the battles will be bigger and larger than this.......
Another example of a word from the English language going from a Noun to an action verb. I can now say "I Skype!" 
