Freedom of speech

My sweet Miles will be 4 at the end of July and, on a daily basis, I am amazed on how grown up he is these days - in particular - how well he talks, expresses himself, and (sadly) talks back to us! Let me share some stories with you... the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The good: This morning when I dropped Miles off at Layla's, I hung around for a bit, which I don't usually do. It's nice to chat with Layla while the boys get busy doing what they do there. Oliver quickly settled into a peg board game and Layla encouraged Miles to show me how he is learning how to read 3-letter words. Layla's school is Montesorri school, and, I will openly admit that I don't know as much as I probably should about the Montessori method, but after watching Miles this morning, it re-affirmed (once again) that it's a great small family school and we are very lucky to have found Layla. It was such a treat to watch him using a Montessori reading/phonetics exercise that helps him learn to sound out and read 3-letter words. I was very impressed and felt less guilty about him being at school all day long while I am work. He's learning a ton, but there is still lots of time for singing, playing, and having fun!

The bad (but funny): Miles has started saying some "sophisticated" (for lack of a better word) things and at times he can be a bit too big for his britches. For example, last night Miles said "Can we go to Starbucks and play on the indoor playground?" And, we said that we could go to Starbucks but we were pretty sure (try positive) that there wasn't an indoor playground there and he replied "Mommy, just trust me" as if he knew more than I did. Hilarious. Another thing ... sometimes he will get something out of the fridge and he will leave it wide open. I will tell him to close it and he will say (in a very pleasant tone) "That's okay mommy, you can do it" as if it's such a treat for me to close the fridge he opened! LOL.

The ugly: This stuff is the stuff you aren't very proud of it, but I guess it's all part of growing up and asserting your independence? These days when Miles gets upset or doesn't get his way, he sometimes will say things like "Well, then I don't love you anymore." Or, "Then I'm not going to be your friend!" Ummm... ouch! I quickly respond "I don't think it's very nice to say those things and I still love you. And that's ok if you don't want to be my friend, but I am still your mommy and you have to listen to me." HA - of course he's long gone when I am done saying all of that. LOL