Return of the Pod Child

He's baaaack.

And I am not giving him up. Pod child is mine, all mine.

The last two nights - no screaming fits, no throwing himself at the couch or the floor and shattering the window panes. Tell him its time to go upstairs and he calmly walks over to the remotes and shuts off the TV. Once again my child remains happy about bedtime. He runs - toward his bed, not away from it. He laughs. He smiles. He gives hugs and kisses.

Of course, Pod Child is not around 100% of the time. Even he needs to go off and spend some quiet time alone. When that happens, My Little Imp returns. Today, he refused to listen to some rather simple rules Daddy laid down. These aren't new rules mind you, but you'd think they were as each day he acts like he's never heard them before.

1. No playing in the street. No stepping into the street unless you are holding mommy's or daddy's hand
2. No playing with dirty water (read - don't go jumping in a puddle of dirty water and then try to drink the water).

What happens when you don't obey the rules? You get dragged back inside where of course you have a meltdown.

So I explain everything to him all over again.

Where do we color?
Paper (I have to remind him of the word ONLY).

Do we play in the street?
No.

And of course John walks in at that moment so I tell him I am reviewing the rules with Little Man.

Rules? No Water!

Close enough baby. Close enough.