Rules to live by

I regularly read that kids need structure, limitations, and rules. I am the worst at structure -- bedtime last night was 7:30; tonight it will be 8:30 or 9. I am regaining strength on limitations. The first 6-8 weeks of Hudson's life, Hannah got by with things because I was either nursing, tired, or just couldn't think of a reason to not give in. (Yes! We are paying the price royally now that we are trying to put limits back in place!) But rules, those I get -- and, boy, does Hannah. Hannah overheard me saying "butt," and said, "Excuse me, Mommy," in her craziest voice. "We don't say butt." She saw a guy standing on the roof of a house he was building, and she said, "We don't stand on houses." One day, out of the blue, she asked "Are you rich?" First, I thought she said a word that rhymes with rich. But, once I figured out what she was saying, I was confused on where she even heard the word. Turns out, she was quoting Cars, and didn't know what the word meant just knew that "Lightning McQueen asks Sally that." So, I explain what rich means, the best you can to a 2-year-old. Then, tell her that it's really not a very nice question to ask people. When we watched Cars next, she told me that Lightning made a bad choice by asking Sally that question. (Her memory scares me because it'd been a month since we watched the movie and had the conversation.) We were watching men's figure skating that I recorded last night, and she was concerned with two things: 1. "Did his buttons break?" Huh? "His shirt is open. Did his shirt tear?" and 2. "We are not supposed to twirl like that. We can get dizzy." Well, they took lessons to learn how to spin without getting dizzy, so it's okay for them. It's cute... Until her friends come over, and she tells them, or worse, comes and tells me in front of their parents, "Johnny was jumping off the fireplace. We don't jump off the fireplace." So, now I try not to give her rules with we. I stress that these are her rules, but they may not be the rules for everyone. Of course, now that she's almost 3, she is trying to test those rules occasionally. But, most of all she seems to really like the rules -- especially if she can boss someone else around and give them the same rules! :-)