Today I was reading Kira's blog (http://kiwords.blogs.com/kiwords/) and I
adore the way that she understands her own children. And because she's a
great writer, I feel like I understand her children as well. Of course
listening or reading about the misadventures and the trials is a lot more
fun, I'm sure, when you're not experiencing them first hand every day...
but Kira has a way of finding every nugget of goodness in a situation.
(Barring that Christmas present issue, Kira, but I was SO on your side with
that one!!)

This morning was a trial for me. M. was so totally *whiny* that I wanted to
stick pencils in my ears and bury myself in my covers. No, he did not want
to go to day care (trust me, dude, I'd rather curl up on the couch and
watch Spiderman with you...but we can't) he just wanted to watch the rest
of Spiderman. That's it. And eat his blueberry muffin. And me trying to
dress him was causing him considerable distress. How cruel of me to take
him out of his Spiderman pajamas.

"No, I want to BE Spiderman! I don't want to Peter Parker!"

Now, the invocation of Peter Parker has been an incredible boon to the
parenting environment in my house. Peter Parker wears underwear, Peter
Parker has a bath, Peter Parker eats vegetables, Peter Parker doesn't
WHINE. Except in Spiderman 2, Peter Parker is a bit whiny, so I lost points
on that one. The reason that we discuss what Peter Parker does, and not
Spiderman, is that all Spiderman does is spin webs, catch bad guys, and
swing from building to building. I'm not sure he wears underwear at all,
actually.

Anyways, to make a long story short, after a few minutes, M. accepted the
fact that we were actually going to go and he wasn't the one calling the
shots. Some days I do wish I wasn't the one calling the shots either... but
that's just the way it is.