"No!" is the new no no

Look at that boy.  Stare into the pools of chocolate he has for eyes: the ones that so closely resemble his father's.  Check out the sweet little hands holding out his newest discovery from the backyard, A.K.A. "the land of the unknown."  Watch those sweet little lips as they form the word..."no".  Excuuuuuse me.  What did he just say to me when I told him to sit down in his chair?  Did he seriously just tell me no?

Yep.  He did.  In fact, he's decided to respond to any request, question, or command with that lovely little word.  No.  Ugh, how it grates on my nerves!  It all started a few weeks ago.  How we've survived the "no" phase this long is beyond me.  After the first full day, I thought for sure that one of us would have to vacate this home.  I had one woman tell me "Oh honey, he just doesn't know what it means."  How can people be so naive?  He's two and a half.  Of course he knows what the word means.  I've even asked him a series of questions requiring both the answer "yes" and "no" while he was busy playing with a toy.  He answered each question using the appropriate word.  I'm not stupid and neither is he.  

So, how am I coping?  Well, some days are better than others.  Most of the time, I can calmly respond by saying "Cade, you don't tell mommy no."  Sometimes I don't even have to say it.  Immediately after he tells me "no", he says "don't tell mommy no!" Yesterday, he decided to replace all of his "no's" with the word "yes."  Talk about confusing.  "Cade, do you need to go to the potty?"  "Yes"...So what do I do?  Take him to the bathroom, of course.  After he begrudgingly gets into his position, he shakes his head and says "no pee pee."  Ohhh solitary padded room...how I long for you at times like these.  

I hate telling people "he's just going through a phase", but isn't it the truth?  Don't we all?  The truth is, in a few months, I'll be able to laugh at the "no" phase.  By that point, he'll be in a new phase (hopefully the "use the toilet 100% of the time so mommy's not chasing after me with the mop" phase), and I will be, too. Thank God for new phases and the ability to laugh at the ones in the past.  

Oh, and thank God for pools of chocolate for eyes...quite possibly the only thing keeping him alive during this phase.  I really like chocolate.