The green bean face-off!

Motherhood is such an adventure! Especially when you are raising two kids at very different ages. Taylor came into my life (I officially became "mom") at the age of four. I had no idea all the things that I had missed, but Ava is giving me a crash course every day! I realize I am probably biased, but Ava is pretty stinkin' smart. She talks in these elaborate, complete sentences lately. And she calls me "mom." Not mommy or mama, just mom. "I'd like to watch a movie now, Mom." or "I'd like a fruit snack, Mom." I can have these entire, in-depth conversations with a two year old, and what's funny about it is I'm not sure if many other people can understand fully what she's saying. She speaks pretty clearly, but I think I know some of her words just because I'm around her all day.

We had a big moment last night. Let me preface this by saying this is a spanking story. Yes, I believe in spanking my kids. I don't abuse them, but I do give them spankings when the situation requires it. So, lately Ava has been testing me on every level. She pushes me to the limits and sees just how far she can take things. I always said I wouldn't be a "threatener." I honestly have bad mouthed other parents for threatening continuously to punish their kids, but never following through. That was before I had a two year old! So, last night after Ava had spit out all of her green beans and telling me "No mom, I don't like that. I'm not eating that." We went back and forth several times. Alan can straighten her out with just a look, but she does not respond quite the same way to me. Alan tells me that I have to be consistent or she will always run over me. So, I stuck to my guns and gave her a spanking. Now, Alan says that Ava is just like me, so I shouldn't be surprised that my spankings don't do a lot for her. I used to actually laugh at my mom when she gave me spankings. I thought it was funny! I'm not sure what the difference was last night. I have spanked her on many occassions, but she didn't seem too affected by them. This time, she really cried and looked at me and said "That hurt Mom. That spanking hurt my bottom." I told her it was supposed to hurt a little bit, or she would never learn her lesson. We finally had a breakthrough! Don't worry, she has no bruises, I didn't spank her too hard, but it finally worked! She finished all of her green beans. It was actually comical. She really didn't like them, but, she ate them. She shuttered and made faces the entire time. She even kind of gagged a little bit, but she ate them!!! Advantage: mom!