While Matt was away (and praise heaven, he's home now), I had to, out of necessity more than anything else, adjust my parenting strategy from "you'll obey me or else" to more of a "long suffering and gentle persuasion". Trouble was that the "or else" part---a time out, a spanking, or revoked privileges, was never enough to conquer Jack's stubborn streak. It literally sometimes devolved into shouting matches: "Jack, Mommy said no!" with him responding, "Mommy, but Jack said YES!" Sound familiar to anyone? :) Anyway, we've moved to a system in which I ask the kids to obey, explain why I want them to, and help along with them, but unless it's really important (like when Jack opened the back gate and ran off, or when Charlotte tried to wrestle the baby out of the exersaucer), I don't really use punishments. Because they don't work.
I'm teeter-tottering the equilibrium between too strict and too lax--and I've gotten a couple of disapproving looks at grocery stores ("Hmpf! I know that if that were my child, they would be under control..."). I've also, gratifyingly, had a few people tell me they can't believe how well behaved my children were. I blinked, cleaned my ears out a little, and looked at them suspiciously...but it's true. I do have pretty awesome kids, and one of the big problems before was that I was just always assuming they were out to get me. Which is, well, mainly untrue. I'll let you know how our continued parenting battles go--let me know how you deal with the discipline teeter-totter.
Here is Anna being her darling self in the exersaucer. 
Matt and the kids as we celebrate his birthday, after he got back from his long trip to Vegas. I'm sure that they had a good reason for being naked...
Here is Matt wearing his new "the Todd" scrub cap and a shirt that says, "Trust me, I'm a doctor." I mean, if we're going to do the over confident surgeon thing, let's be thorough.... :)
