Patience.

I have a little.

I had more when I was younger.

I'd like a little more now, at least for my kids' sake.

When I hear my words back at me in a semi-angry voice, it makes me rethink my strategies for discipline.

Daniel is, once again, frustrated about this whole "dessert issue." This time, he has a problem with finishing his fruit before dessert. He thinks he can order what kind of fruit he has to eat (as in a restaurant) rather than eat what he is given. Herein lies the birth of :

Quote #1. me: "I am not a restaurant!"

Daniel also has a tendency to decide that maybe tonight he doesn't feel so much like cleaning up. he's rather play and make more of a mess. (can you blame him?)

Quote #2 me: "Whatever is left on the ground after the timer goes off is going in the garbage!"

After several uses of #2 prove to be ineffective, I resort to:

Quote #3 me-in a much firmer, louder voice- "That's it! You're going straight upstairs to bed and all these things left out will be gone tomorrow!"

Now I know he hears me. Even though it doesn't appear that way, I know he does. Because tonight, after the aforementioned argument about the fruit, this is what he said:

"That's it! I'm not going to eat this because this is not a restaurant! I WANT ANOTHER FRUIT! I'm getting applesauce!"

me: "If you want dessert, you'll eat the peaches."

Dan-face all scrunched up and fists tight- "I'm going to throw all this away! It's going in the garbage! You are just going to bed! I'm getting my own dessert!" He proceeds to open the fridge and try to take out all the peaches to throw away.

If I didn't think this was so funny, I may have become angry. (I guarantee if I was in a "mood" I would not be fondly retelling this.) But because he caught me chuckling softly, his face brightened and he walked away. I shouted after him "I'll leave the peaches on the counter when you're ready!"

And sure enough, once I got dessert out for the girls, he was ready.