Pancakes, Bonzai and Tall tales

Lucy was halarious this morning, she is a BIG eater!!! I still nurse her atleast 8 times a day, snacks constantly and still gets really pissed at you if you don't share YOUR food with her. This morning was homemade pancake day...Katy had a blast helping me destroy flip the pancakes. This was the result of Lucy 3 pancakes later. Wowza!

So while Katy and I were upstairs cooking breakfast Max was playing "evil kanevil" down stairs in the family room... folks, this kind of stuff happens everyday in my house. This is 10 times better than it was even 6 months ago. Max squeezed his Butt into the Johnny jump-up and latched it onto the stair railing on the foyer level... removed all the cushions from the couch and was trying to jump from the foyer onto the cushions on the floor. (sigh)

So, recently Max has been testing me with defiance. UGH! He is at the age where he is really grasping the concept that there are clear consequences to his actions. And I am a stickler for the rules. I do try to pick my battles wisely, but it has been a challenge to do so with a spirited child. Max gets bored very easily, as a result he often gets into things that clearly I would never approve of...IE: kitchen knives, permanent markers, scissors...bungee jumping in the house... you know the usual OMG what were you thinking. (I desperately try to eliminate the temptations, but this booger is waaaay to smart for his own good)

Now he has moved onto..."Katy did it"... and Ro-Burger...you know, the big brother lover that she is... follows his lead with the "Max did it" comeback. You can imagine how tiring that gets. I try hard not to over-react to things if he is willing to tell me the truth. We have always had that rule... The lie is MUCH worse than the action ... I've learned that very well growing up.

How do you deal with a child who plays with defiance???

(HA! notice the screwdriver in Katy's hand...probably why they were hiding under the table :)