Motherhood: An Exercise In Patience

...and my patience is wearing mighty thin. Call it being a 2 year old, hard-headed, just desserts or whatever else, but Geof is driving me batty. It seems these days my vocabulary is limited to "Stop that", "No", "What did I tell you?", "What did you say?", "Stop whining", "Do not talk to me like that", "Go to your room", "Do you want a spanking?" Oh yes, the joy never ends. He's developed this nasty habit lately of back talking. I do not tolerate this. The thing is, I am not a push-over parent, my threats are not empty and when I say "no" I mean it. What kills me is that he isn't as bad with Nathaniel....what am I not doing here? Our parenting practices are the same, I'm just a little more nurturing and free with hugs and kisses. Geof is praised and rewarded for good behaviour, but sometimes he forgets that. I realize this is a natural phase for Geof. He's exploring his boundaries and mine and we're still in the beginning stages of this journey. I'm just wondering how long the ""Terrible Twos" are going to last! God help us when he's a teenager!!!