A sting.

I was sitting on the living room floor playing with Jaxon yesterday afternoon when I said to him,

"Jaxon, thanks for playing with Mommy."

"Yep!" he replied.

"I like being your friend, buddy."

"You're not my friend.  I don't want to be best friends.  And I don't want to play with you."

Yeah, he's 3 years old... I get that.  And in the big picture, I also know I'm not supposed to be his friend, but his parent.

But, it stung.  Quite a bit actually.

He's been saying things like this more frequently than not lately, and while part of me wonders if he really understands what he's saying, I also realize there's going to be a day (probably sooner than later) that he will fully understand it and still say mean things.

Sigh, this parenting gig really is hard work.