Soliciting Suggestions...

Today we went for a "well-baby" visit to see how Ashton has grown over the last two years.  He is tall for his age and weighed in heavy, as he has done since birth.   I attribute his extra poundage to being a good eater, because there is no way it is from inactivity.  The kid is always running from here to there.  But generally, he is very much at pace for his age, which is always comforting for a parent.  As he grows, however, he challenges the advice gathered from the stacks of parenting books I read before he was born.

The first of these challenges is Ashton's desire to be a nudist.  These days, getting him dressed is like a wrestling match with a wild bull.  Now that we spend a majority of the time at home, I have found myself taking the easy way out and letting him be in the buff because it isn't worth the back pain that follows.  I can convince him to wear underwear about 50% of the time by telling him that "we don't want the neighbors to see your privates," but I know soon he will not care if these unknown "neighbors" (a word I'm not sure he fully understands) see his "privates" (a word he understands, but doesn't see what the big deal is about showing them).  I believe we are on a slippery slope to Naked Town.

An additional issue is Ashton's use of urine as a weapon.  He will urinate outside of the bathroom to get my full attention -- this is not an accident since he usually goes to the bathroom without notifying me anymore.  He has peed on our couch twice when I wouldn't give in to him and I know it was deliberate because he smiled an evil grin, which could only have been interpreted as "I win!"  In talking with my parents, they suggested ignoring the behavior because if he could get a rise out of me he did in fact win.  I admitted that the rise he received from me was epic... I was pissed, no pun intended, and made him sit in his wet clothes for an extended period of time to show him who was boss.  I don't know that I did the right thing and on behalf of our furniture and my loving husband, I need some advice...