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You’re first words were (in no particular order): Moma, Dada, up and hot. These are all said in a whispery voice … almost as though you’re not sure if you’re saying it correctly. You’ve now mastered the art of ‘No’. It’s not the whisper of your other words. It’s quite forceful. A loud, insistent ‘No’ when me or Mommy rests our foot on your folding chair. Or when we’re we’ve done something incorrectly. It’s so freaking cute! I’ll have to get a recording of it and post it for everyone to hear, because frankly if I wasn’t so taken aback by being told no from a 16 month old it might be the single funniest thing I’ve ever heard in my life 
I’ve read a parent blog entry today about what kinds of kids we’re raising today and what messages we’re sending them. We always want to make sure that our children have the self-esteem necessary to get through life, but we also don’t want you to think that you are entitled to everything that your little hearts desire. Where to draw the line? Frankly, I have no freaking idea. For the most part the best answer I can give is leading by example, but what if that doesn’t work? What then?
For the most part I think that each generation is always perceived by it’s predecesor to have it too good, even though that very same previous generation pines for ‘the good old days’. Maybe it’s just a generational gap thing that will never be understood. And maybe it’s better that way. Maybe the whole point of not understanding how to raise your kids is what being a parent is all about. And spoiling them, or at least testing the bounds of spoiling are necessary to being a good parent. I think it comes down to not being an extremist in either direction (but I think this holds for most things in life). We as parents shouldn’t over discipline our kids so that they don’t know what it’s like to be a kid, but we should also not let them be ‘in charge’ so to speak. The real challenge of being a good parent is finding that range (not point, but range) in which we don’t veer off to far to either extreme.
I came home yesterday after a day that wasn’t great. But you know what was great … when you came and greeted me at the door, all smiles and looking cute as can be in a little pink dress. I took off my shoes and dropped my bag and sat with you on the floor and we played a little bit and I gave you a hug and a kiss and instantly my day was a million times better.
