But Mom...

The arguing.  Oh my goodness the arguing.  I cannot take it.  Everything out of mouth, Alex argues it.  And it isn't just normal things like when it's bedtime or that he needs to finish his food.  He argued with me today about what the side of a yogurt container said.  I read it and told him it said it was 0% fat.  He immediately told me, "No.  That's not what it says.  It says it costs zero bucks."  Well, ya got the zero part of that right there kiddo...but until you hone your reading skills, I suggest you don't tell me I am wrong.

Every time he argues with me, it's the same routine.  I say something, he says the opposite, I tell him to please not argue with me, he puts his hands out in front of himself in a "stop" position, closes his eyes because he clearly can't stand to actually see my stupidity, tilts his head back a little and says, "But Mom, but Mom, but Mom."

Oh!  And back to that yogurt.  We were in the store and he picked out a strawberry banana yogurt.  Before he put it in the cart, I reminded him that he doesn't like that flavor.  Not shockingly, he retorted that he does now in fact like strawberry banana, and that he is "used to it now."  So, instead of perpetuating the Grand Cycle of Argue, I let him get the stupid yogurt.  Everyone see where this is headed?  Yep.  He was home from school today and at snack time he was all excited to have, you guessed it, strawberry banana yogurt.  He took one bite and with his hand on his head in disbelief, he said, "Ooooohhhh...whoops!  I forgot I actually don't like this flavor."  Really?  I cannot believe that.  It's almost like I told you that and you refused to believe me!  Weird!

The other morning, I was trying to get us out the door on time.  It's a whopping 4 minutes to day care since we moved so you would think this wouldn't be a challenge.  But it is.  We are not morning people us Juliuses.  Anywho, we were all on schedule until I asked Alex to put on his shoes.  That was when the argument about his ability to put on his own shoes began.  And that spiraled into four other things I apparently knew nothing about.  Whatever, I finally got him in the car, but I was not a happy lady.  Alex asked me what was wrong and I told him I was upset that we were late because he spent so much time arguing with me.  And with that he was quiet.  Until we had to wait to turn off of our road.  There were a lot of cars coming and he piped up with, "Mom, all these cars are going to make us late late late."  And that's when I decided to argue.  I like to think of it as clarification, but let's not split hairs.  So I told him, we were not late because of the cars, we were late because of the constant disagreeing. Once again silence from the back seat.  About 1/4 of a mile down the road, I hear it.  "But Mom...this truck in front of us is going reeeeeally slow and that is going to make us late."

And when I told him that if he didn't stop arguing with me, I swore I was going to lose my mind?   "You're not supposed to swear, Mom."  Geez, I'm surprised you didn't know that.