Changed it slightly

You may notice from time to time that I'll change my blog template.
This is because I have a short attention span I think. I grow weary of the same thing day after day - which is why I tend to move my living room furniture around in various permutations at least 6 times a year.
This is also why I was so hesitant to go with such a bold colour of paint on our first floor - Simply because it cannot be easily changed.
For someone who doesn't LIKE change - I seem to do an awful lot of it. I think I just don't like when things beyond my control change - but things within my control - when I am doing the changing - yeah, lets do that a lot! Maybe I'm more of a control freak than someone resistant to change. In any case - things change around here a lot.......If I let them.
Also anyone can post a comment now without registering. Of course this means I have total control over what I LET be posted as a comment, and can delete nasty ones from strangers with a flick of a button. Control rocks - but is dangerous in the hands of the wrong people. By this I mean little people - specifically 3 and 4 yr old boys. Despite having inherited the same mutant control freak gene from their mother, they are pretty good most of the time - but then there are moments where we have a battle of wills.
I don't suggest holding a battle of wills with 1 preschooler, let alone 2 at a time, but I do like the challenge, and I'm fiercely competitive.
So I win.
As long as they know that mommy wins, and that they WILL go to bed, all is well.
And it's not always a good feeling to win that battle either. Sometimes it hurts.
Last night Matthew displayed his own little area of control - specifically bladder control, when he unleashed a stream of urine into a toy. Since urinating everywhere EXCEPT the toilet has been our personal control issue with Matthew, he decided to show me that he was in control, and nothing I could do would ever stop him from peeing wherever he felt like it.
Matthew chose the wrong person to have this battle with.
As I walked into the room and found the deed in the latter stages of completion I set in motion my plan to break him of this habit for good.
It was 7:00pm.
He was in the middle of watching a Dora video which was immediately turned off.
I am proud that I maintained my calm disposition when inside I was buzzing like a hornet.
Put jammies and a diaper on him and calmly took him upstairs - brushed his teeth without a word, and did NOT get a bedtime bottle ready for him.
At this point, he wasn't too concerned, and knowing that he had done something wrong, he thought he was getting off rather easily by simply having a video privilege taken away. Oh no, I had greater plans that that. Greater punishment. This was something he'd remember, and remember well.
I calmly led him to bed - He was still unconcerned because I hadn't gotten a bottle ready for him - something that he ALWAYS has to go to bed, so he assumed he wasn't going to bed. Wrong again.
I laid him on his bed and told him that because he peed on the floor, he was being punished by going to bed.
Suddenly it hit him, and in a panic he said "You're not putting the gate up" to which I replied, "Yes I am, it's bedtime, and that's what happens when you pee on the toys or on the floor - you go to bed".
As I left his room there were great wails of remorse.
I had to be strong - I was going to win this battle - but it wasn't going to feel good.
30 minutes of sobbing followed by him yelling inbetween sobs "I'm....ready.....to......behave.....now".
It broke my heart - but I remained strong.
I came into his room and gave him a big hug, and said that it was bedtime, and even though he's ready to behave, the punishment was going to bed early, so he'd best remember where to pee from now on.
More sobs, and he finally cried himself to sleep while I read Duncan a story or 2 and put him to bed at 8:30.
Score 1 for mom. A hard fought victory that still doesn't feel good.
But he hasn't peed on the floor today. That certainly feels good. Lets hope it's a lesson that sticks. This is a boy that doesn't ever forget anything. He has a photographic memory - sometimes to his detriment, but he doesn't forget. He CHOOSES his misdeeds very carefully, but he doesn't forget.
Unfortunately he's incredibly headstrong, so he may choose punishment again over compliance - simply for the control.
Nobody ever doubted he was my son - Control freak and headstrong. He's just like me.
HELP!