The Lord Made Him Cute....

...as a protectcive mechanism.

Today's Graphic:

Oh, but wait... I'M HIS MAMMA!

So...Gage got in trouble tonight.
Bonnie.
He's constantly JACKING with that poor dog.
He's been told 18 million bajillion times to "be nice to Bonnie."
"That's not very nice."
"Gage, we don't do that to Bonnie."
"Gage, she doesn't WANT to slide around like that."
"Gage, STOP! That will make her sick!"
etc. etc. you get the point.

Well, I was on the couch, and I heard the poor dog yelping.
"Gaaaaaage!"
...more yelping, continuous yelping....
He was holding her front paws & back paws together---with her body circling a leg on the couch, and somehow he was spinning her around the leg of the couch. No, it was not hurting her, but she clearly didn't like it. So, we had words about that b/c he's been warned ALL FREAKIN' DAY (& every other day) about treating the dog nicely.
So, he proceeded to whine & cry & yell at me.
Not good.
Sent to time-out in his room.
I had to tell him THREE TIMES to go.
Not good.

We both cool off.
I go in there to talk & tell him that he can come out now.
"I wanna just go to bed instead."
Sweeeeeeeeeeet!
So, I do his little night-night routine, and cover him up, and sit on the end of his bed to talk. I got the impression that he wasn't listening to me (Gah!)...so I said, "What did Mommy just say?" And his response, "No?" As in, "Did you just say 'no'?" It was clearly a question, indicating that he was guessing my last word to him was "No!"

Mommy: "Are you listening to me?"
Gage: shakes his head indicating that he has in fact NOT been listening as he should... (Gah!)
Mommy: "When Mommy tells you to do something, you do it right then...." blah, blah, blah [insert parental comments about minding/obeying, etc.] and then I said something about possibly reinstating spankings. {just an FYI---I haven't spanked Gage in....gosh, I don't even know how long now. I've been trying to do other discipline techniques, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and I discussed bringing back the spanking...}
Gage: "If you spank me, I'll send you to jail!"
Mommy: "You can't send me to jail for giving you a spanking." [WHERE DOES HE EVEN GET THIS INFORMATION? WHO IS TELLING HIM THIS STUFF? Orrrr....is it that his brain equates law breaking with rule breaking, and law breaking can land you in jail, therefore rule breaking, as in "we don't hit", may in fact land one in jail???? Are you with me here?]..... and so I continued my blah, blah, blah, back on track conversation about minding Mommy....
Gage: "MOMMY! (back of his hand dramatically placed atop his forehead)YOU'RE GIVING ME A HEADACHE!"
Mommy: (silence. shock. where does he learn this stuff???)
Gage: "Just snuggle me instead."
Mommy: "good-night."

Oh.My.Gosh.
The drama.

So, he was in bed at 8:41.
I'm exhausted from the day.
Bonnie is asleep on the couch (with nobody JACKING WITH HER!)
I'll be climbing into bed soon.