Word of the Day: "Stop!"

It has been one of those parenting days during which I am extremely thankful that the Lord's mercies are new every morning and tomorrow I can start over trying to be a good mommy!

Q has been learning to talk.  He has used certain words for months now, but currently he is learning lots of new words every day. He repeats whatever I say and then surprises me later using words in their correct context when I thought all he was doing was just mimicking. This puts a huge weight of responsibility on me to speak to him and in front of him in ways that I would be pleased to hear him repeating. {anyone else feel like having a toddler is excellent for refining your own character?}

In addition to his new language skills, he is also going through some sort of a phase {I hope it's just a phase} that began, roughly, yesterday... in which he gets a kick out of doing the exact opposite of what I ask him to do.  For example, "please keep your food on your tray" followed by brief stare then deliberately throwing his food on the ground and bursting into hysterical laughter.  Or, "please bring that to mommy, it is not a toy/it is dangerous/I need it/etc" followed again by brief stare then running away in the opposite direction accompanied by hysterical laughter. Maddening, to say the least, as a parent. I know he is not trying to be "bad," he just thinks he is being funny, but it is irritating and exhausting dealing with this "phase" and I am desperately trying not to over-use time-out!

Today I had a girlfriend and her little daughter over for some craft time.  My irritation with Q's "phase" is definitely escalated when I am trying to entertain friends or work on a project that requires my attention- both of which I was doing at the same time today. As a result, Q heard "Just Stop!" frequently today as I was trying to pay attention to my friend and our project while he was more interested in climbing up on the table and stealing the scissors, or messing with the sewing machine, or stealing and throwing my friend's daughter's snack all around the house.

All he really wanted was my undivided attention, which I was not willing or able to provide him at the time. Fortunately I didn't completely lose my temper with him, but I didn't do a very good job of hiding my irritation with him in my sharp responses of "Stop!"  Naturally, he made me eat my words this afternoon {as toddlers seem to have a knack for doing} by choosing "Stop!" as his favorite word-of-the-day and repeating it over and over again well after I had regained my composure {i.e. after nap time...}.

Every time I heard him saying "Stop!" this afternoon I couldn't help but hear God telling me to stop, and think about what I say and how I say it to my toddler, who learns more from how I act {and react} than he ever will from what I tell him is the proper way to act or react.