Rules...

I've been telling Christian that only babies cry, and he's a big boy now who's soon going to be a big brother.

He had a tiny cut on his index finger yesterday, and said it was caused by the school gate. Showed me his finger when he got home and whimpered "Mama.. mama.. my finger.. painpain."

I made a few sympathetic noises and said it's ok, it'll heal after a night's sleep. He replied "I did not cry, Mama. I didn't cry. I only said 'Mama..mama..my finger...' (in the exact tone and manner in which he complained to me.)"

He's capable of re-enactment now.

We've also been trying to correct his pronunciation where we can, but sometimes i think he stubbornly refuses to be corrected, even though he is capable of pronouncing it correctly. I was massaging his leg as he drank his milk, and he squirmed, saying "tickle-ish". I said "ticklish, ticklish, not tickle-ish" but he insisted "tickle-ish", before coming up with his own rule - "only children can say tickle-ish". I laughed and went "oh?" so he decided to come up with another rule - "only girls can say ticklish. Mama say ticklish." (see he has no problems saying it correctly!!!)