Mom - 1, Dad - 0

As parents, my husband and I try to present a united front. I don't contradict what he's told the kids.... and most of the time (I hope) he returns the courtesy. This is not to say that we always AGREE on the line that the other has drawn - but only that we won't get into our disagreement in front of the little people who live here.

The hooligans have already learned that there's no use in asking one of us for a more favorable answer if the other has already replied negatively - one of our first questions is "have you asked Dad" or "what did Mom say?" .... we're not falling for that one...

But that doesn't mean they're not clever enough to take advantage when the situation allows....

Closing out the weekend tonight and getting ready for a new week, I asked my son - for the third time, to bring up his agenda for his Dad or I to read.... he can be such a lolly-gager... always one more distraction getting in the way of what needs to be done.... stalling, stalling.

"Please Mom, can't I just show you the new Lego ship I upgraded?"

He was standing in the hall between me, in the bathroom bathing his sister, and his father, out of sight sitting in the living room.... I could see the eager look in his eye - this son of mine who, in the unenviable position of "oldest" probably gets the least attention of all my kids. Every once in a while I have to stop and remind myself that these days are going by so fast... as fast as I can blink we'll be to the point that he'll no longer even have an interest in sharing with me all the important things in his world. Every once in a while I feel too guilty to just say "no" because it would be the easier or faster thing....

My "OK, Sure" rang out at the exact instant that his father's "NO!" came from the living room....

He took a quick glance in both directions and less than a second to make a snap decision: "I'm listening to MOM!" as he high-tailed it down the stairs to retrieve his treasure!

All we could do was chuckle... "listening to mom" - no surprise there ;)

(if only he were this quick to listen to me all the time)