Cute Thing the ClarkPupp Does (2)

My kid is great.  He's rediculously funny, gets his looks from his mom, and can be very sweet.  The overriding feature of him right now, though, is that he is two.  Basically everything you can read and everything you are told by experts (meaning  parents of older children) implies that this is the age in which children learn that they are independent beings.  As a result they test their boundaries and rebel against parental authoritarianism.  Basically, it is a tune up for when they hit their teens.

ClarkPupp is a textbook case.  He wears me ragged because I am constantly forced to stop him from doing things.  Recent examples include him banging a croquet mallet against our sliding glass door, pulling every single book off the bookcase, and wandering out of the front yard into the street.

The scenario almost always plays out the same.  I tell him to stop, he does it again.  I tell him to stop again and he smiles at me and does it again.  Depending on the severity of what he is doing, he is either punished at this point or given another warning.  If it is really bad (walking in the street) he gets put in timeout which involves him sitting against a wall and crying.

When it is less severe (slapping a shrub in his mom's garden to watch it sway) he gets a final warning.  I will point at him and sternly tell him that if he does it again he will "get in trouble".  This is where it gets cute.  ClarkPupp gives me a dirty look, points at me, and trying to imitate my voice says, "No, Daddy!  You get in trouble!"  Then he stops.

It is soooooooooo cute!