Life with an almost 4-year old

I was trying to get J to come give me a big hug. Sometimes it is a real battle to get him to cuddle, so I started teasing him, saying, "J, come give me lovins. I want some lovins!"

As he inched away from me, he said under his breath in clear, separated words, "I don't have any lovins!"

I was trying to tame S's curly hair, and J wanted in on the action. He is obsessed with getting his hair off of his forehead, like Dad's. The day before I had put mousse in his hair, and combed it over to the side. The next day, I put the mousse in, and was working it into his hair. His hair looked messy, and spiky, and he said, "No, Mom, I want it flat." I repeated it to confirm, though I knew that was what he wanted. He replied, "Yes, like you said I look handsome." So, so sweet.

Potty training is not going well with him, though we try. One of the things we battle over is who will change his messy diapers. I try to tell him that I don't like to change diapers, but being the momma's boy that he is, he always tries to insist that I do every diaper. In an effort to get him to use the potty, we've told him that I won't EVER change his diaper again, that if he chooses to not use the potty he doesn't get to choose who will change his diaper.

Yesterday, I had to change the diaper because Ray wasn't home. Soon after he got home from work, there was another delightful offering for Ray to take care of. J didn't fight it too hard. After we'd gotten the kids to bed, Ray and I were downstairs. J came down and informed us that he was poopy. I asked him, again, why he hadn't done it  in the potty! He ignored that, and told me that I had to change it. I asked him why, and he pointed at me, then Ray, then me again. "It is your turn!" He was so cleverly proud that he'd figured out an argument! Of course, I gave in and gave him his way.

Also yesterday, I was looking through our painting supplies. I pulled out an old roller that still had a pad on it that I had used to paint our living room years before. It still had the same color on it, which the kids were quick to point out. I was walking up the stairs, and J was following me, working out things in his mind, talking to me. "Mom, you put the yellow on, then put it on the wall... Mom, you're... GENIUS!"

Where does he get this stuff!