The art of saying "NO"

Drew is one smart little cookie. He is also very curious. Hubs and I are beginning to notice that when you combine smart + curious, as parents you start saying "NO" a lot. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it backfires. 

Exhibit A, for instance, when Drew crosses the line from the carpeted living room to the tiled kitchen, we say "Andrew, NO!" in our sternest voices. Many times he will stop, look at us to acknowledge that he heard our command, and 7 times out of 10, he will turn back around and crawl back onto the carpet. Carpet to tile would be an instance where we feel successful that "NO" is working. 

And then comes Exhibit B. We have a laundry basket of Drew's clean, folded clothes that we keep in the living room. It's nice to have some clothes there in case we need a quick change or a burp cloth. Lately, our little man of the house has taken a great interest in the contents of the laundry basket. In days past, he would crawl right by it, barely paying it any notice. Now, he is drawn to it like a magnet. He crawls over, sits next to the laundry basket, and makes eye contact with the adult. Usually, he will keep eye contact as his hand reaches into the basket, pulling out whatever clothes he can find. Hubs and I, in the sternest voices we can muster, say "NO, Andrew. We don't play with clean clothes." We take the clothes out of his hand and put them back in the basket, at which point Drew laughs and reaches in again for whatever he can grab. Unless we are physically laying our arms or legs across the basket, Drew will continue to try to get those clothes out of the basket, as if we are playing the most fun game with him. 

Tonight was one of those nights. Hubs was on the couch and I was on the floor playing with the little rascal. He crawled right over to that basket, looked me square in the eye, reached in and grabbed to his hearts content. In my "mom voice", I looked at him and said, "NO Andrew. NO touching!". Drew laughed and tried it again. I then looked up at my loving, supportive husband...sitting there trying his hardest not to burst out laughing at the entire situation. Of course, I couldn't hold it in either. I started laughing, too. 

I obviously haven't mastered the art of saying "NO" yet. Drew is just too cute and does the funniest things sometimes. 

Caught red handed!

You might think he looks remorseful, but he thinks this is a game!