such a well behaved boy

So it seems that Sofia has gotten most of the blog-attention in recent posts. I think it's time to put Mason in the spotlight. I'll start out by saying that Mason has to be the sweetest, dearest little boy I know. He is three years old and it has been said by many that he has this way of making every one feel special when they are in his presence. He is usually very well-behaved (with the exception of the occasional tantrums when in the privacy of our own home), so it struck me as odd when every day for a full week, when I picked him up from his child care center, his response to my daily question of "How was your day?" was... "Me got a time out". Now, I'm not so naive as to think that he is perfectly behaved all the time in all settings. But I was curious about the behavior initiating those time outs. Trying to get this out of a 3-year-old takes some patience:

"Why did you get a time out?"

"Because me got in trouble."

"Why did you get in a trouble?"

"Because my teach-ow was mad at me."

"What did you do that made your teacher mad?"

"Me got a time out."

Each day, though, I was finally able to get the reason for his time out:

"Because me didn't put the puzzle away."

"Because me didn't listen to the teach-ow."

"Because I was mean to my fwends."

"Because I gived my cookie to Chawlie."

"Because me throwed dirt in my fwends' eyes."

The next Monday when I brought him in to the center, I mentioned my son's behavior from the previous week. They looked at me kind of funny... and then they laughed when I mentioned his daily time outs. "I don't think Mason has ever gotten a time out", they said. "Those are all things that the other kids have been doing!"

So that's my sweet little boy... he's so well-behaved that he has to fantasize about getting time outs just so he can be like the other kids!

While we're speaking of him being so sweet, I'd also like to mention that he's very touchy-feely; he likes to cuddle and while doing so, he likes to rub the arms of the person holding him. Sweet, I know. But... and this is where it gets weird... there have been times where while rubbing my arms, he has said in a very matter-of-fact voice, "Me gonna cut your arms off". Perhaps I can blame it on his exposure to television or his fascination with swords and guns. Does anyone else find this slightly disturbing?