Life with Milo

I'm normally a fairly delicate person when it comes to confronting people. I usually opt for politeness over directness, and I think it's one of my major shortcomings.

Life with Milo is teaching me otherwise.

"Milo, (insert random information)."

"I don't know, Mommy. I don't think that's true."

"Yes, it is, Milo. Mommy knows."

"No, I think it's different."

"Milo, Mommy is a lot smarter than you. I went to school for a long time, I have multiple degrees (do you even know what those are?), and as long as you live, I will probably be smarter than you, so why don't you just listen to what I'm saying?"

That's great, isn't it? It's excellent when you have to resort to reminding your four-year old how smart you are, especially when you're about to start homeschooling him.

Or how about this one?

"Mommy, Lily calls you Titi. And so do Conner and Chloe. I'm going to start calling you Titi."

"No, Milo, you're going to call me Mommy, because that's what I am to you."

"Nooooo, I want to call you Titi. I like Titi."

"Milo, you are going to call me Mommy. And you are going to do that because I carried you around in my tummy for close to a year, and then I squeezed you out and gave birth to you and nursed you for another year (don't even ask me what that is right now), and because I did those things, I earned the right to be called Mommy. So that is what you will call me."

The terrified look on his face was worth it all as he replied, "Okay, Mommy."