Melts my heart every time.

Joe, as you know is the baby of the family…literally.  At 18 months he is so full of life and excitement that he truly blesses each new day.

But…at 18 months I am also beginning to see signs of the tiger underneath.  When he is frustrated he hits. He especially likes to hit me and Kelly, maybe because we are with him most.  Usually he hits if we tell him no for something.  Today he was jumping on the couch between us and she told him no and sat him down. He smacked her twice in the face.  I turned him over my lap and swatted his bottom twice and sat him back down.  He immediately tried to give me kisses.  I tried to hold him back, but he was insistent and just had this face that said I’m sorry, please forgive me, and give me loves.  Kelly and I were cracking up.  He did give me several kisses while I was squealing with laughter.  Maybe 20 minutes later he hit her again.  I grabbed his hands and put them at his sides and held them there and told him no very sternly.  Again he got all puppy dog eyed and tried to get kisses.  It’s then that I realized I was being manipulated by my baby.  He wants to give me loves because then I won’t be mad anymore.  I tried to ignore his advances, but honestly he is just too darn adorable!