I’ve found it fun/interesting this time around to watch my youngest child learn what NO means. It is fascinating to watch them test and try their boundaries. So we have a little ritual now, Blue Jeans and I. He walks over to the outlet which has a cord plugged into it. He turns and looks at me with a sly little look to see if I’m watching. Then he reaches out his finger very slowly towards it and I say, “No.” He then looks down at it longingly, looks back at me and takes his hand away, but moves his body close enough to touch it with his belly, still watching me. I say, “No.” and then he tries his leg or some other body part other than his finger. At that point I go over and remove him from temptation. Invariably a while later we get to do the whole thing again. With Mr. President I probably would have gotten frustrated at the repetitiveness, but I don’t this time around. Mostly I find it funny. I hope that means I’m learning how to be a more relaxed mother. I finally caught the whole thing on video the other day. Enjoy our little Ritual.