The House of (Control) Freaks

I am a control freak. I admit it. My husband is also a control freak (whether he admits it or not). Sometimes it can be quite frustrating. He thinks I should do things his way, I think he should do things my way... sometimes we really clash. But other times it brings us to the same page - we will agree on certain issues or we can have a great understanding between one another.

Regardless, it is something else that we have both passed down... to our toddler at least. That, or he's been paying too much attention to our 10-year-old daughter's behavior. She is also a control freak, to which I can not claim ownership over. She was a control freak when she came to live with us. She was my husband's niece before we adopted her. But whenever I tell her to do something it's always either "I was just going to do that," or "I knew you were going to tell me to do that," or "I know." And of course she will never do something without having to tell her, unless it's something you don't want her to do or she shouldn't be doing... or she's always racing me to do something.

My toddler has taken it upon himself to start yelling at himself. He is continually telling himself what to/not to do before I do. He'll climb on the couch and tell himself to get down - then he'll yell at himself to get down (I just know he's mocking me). He'll say "put straw bick in" before he takes the straw out of his juice box. "put arm bick in sweeve," "put stocks bick on," "keep shoes on," "no climin," "don't touch it," "don't twow it." It's a little on the wacky side, but in reality he's also telling on himself. He's letting me know when he's about to do something he shouldn't. Of course he continues to do it until I step in and reaffirm what he's just told himself.