A blast from the past...

Today was one of those days, where I was cursing myself because I totally sounded like my mother!

On more than one occasion, I said verbatim what I hated hearing so much when I was little... "I'm gonna give you a reason to cry", "not until you finish cleaning up your mess", "whatever I pick up for you, will go in the trash...", I even bit Liam back after he bit me today... *sigh*.

This morning as I was coming downstairs with laundry, I watched Jax pull the rest of the magazines and books off the coffee table, (Liam had pulled most of them off prior to this), but then Jax shredded a piece of paper, and when I called him out on it, he threw the piece of paper at Liam and said "Baby Liam did it Mommy!".

So that resulted in Jax vacuuming the couch cushions while I vacuumed the base of the couch. He didn't seem to mind though, and he actually did a good job!

Then later on in the morning, Liam was fussing in the playroom, so I came in to check on him, and I witness Jax dumping each of his toy bins in a pile, one after the other. I said to him "well I hope you plan on picking that all up, because I'm not going to do it!" He again said, "it was baby Liam!" Now typically when the playroom is a disaster, it's from good ole' playing, and I almost always "help" him pick up... but this time, Jax just did it to be a butt and lied about who did it!

So.... I told him he needed to start picking it up! He didn't move, and instead said, "no, maybe you can do it Mommy!" What!?!? I mean EVERY BIN WAS TURNED OVER AND DUMPED OUT! Heck no! After that, I calmly told him what goes where, and that he needed to pick it up because he was the one who made the mess, and lying about it being Liam wasn't nice, and therefore I wasn't even going to help. That lead to an all out screaming match. Screaming from a three year old isn't anything that bad, but I am trying to work on patience with him when he does talk to me like that. I asked him several more times to please pick up his mess, and he did nothing. So then I told him as I was dragging the garbage can into the playroom, that whatever I picked up was going in the trash. I totally expected a quick cleaning three year old to emerge, but again, he just sat there. So naturally I went for his favorite toys. His Mack Truck, his beloved Lightning McQueen, Chick, Mator, and Dinoco King car... His robot, Alphie, letter cards, bouncy balls, etc... ALL IN THE TRASH!

Through tears, and pleading he slowly started picking up his mess. Then started playing, then got sent to his bedroom, then back, and we repeated this several times. He didn't get lunch until his room was picked up. Which of course Liam and I had all his favorites while he was cleaning... Five minutes before nap, he said his tummy hurt and he was hungry, which it was almost two hours past lunch, so I finally gave in.

FINALLY after nap, after he figured out the tv was unplugged, he put the last of his mess away... It literally KILLED me to not just go in and pick up his mess. It takes 10 minutes even if every toy is out, for me to put everything back to order... Ugh... But I put my foot down, and I'm glad I did, because he said he was sorry for making such a mess and that he learned his lesson. :)

On a brighter note, I haven't given him his toys back that I "threw" away. He has asked several times if he could have them back, but I am very much enjoying him playing with some of his neglected toys!

There are moments as a parent where I roll my eyes and say, I can't believe I just said that... I sounded just like my mother... today was definitely one of those days. And most times, it's more or less, like really!?! I swore I'd never say that... but sometimes it's comical, and I hate to admit how good of a line it is that I am reusing... but Ghaaaaaa...

Nothing like your parents secretly getting revenge through your own children paying you back...