"Momma, I'm not buggin' you!"

My sister, bless her soul, taught Ricky how to “bug” his older cousin this weekend.  Or how to tell his cousin to stop “buggin” him.  I’m not sure which.  Either way, she taught him the phrase and what it means.

When Ricky doesn’t obey or is mean to Billy or some such thing, he pays for his crime with a toy.  The toy lives in my closet until I think he’s ready to earn it back.  Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn’t, as with all discipline techniques.   What often happens, is a day or two later, Ricky comes up and tells me something like, “Momma, I’m sorry I pushed Billy with my head” or “Momma, I can listen now” or “Momma, I’m not sitting on the cat anymore.”  I can tell he is up to something, so my reply is, “Okay, what do you want out of the closet?”  And he lets me know.

So, with that background, I was sitting on the couch, reading a book and Ricky climbed up, sat nicely next to me and smiled.  I knew something was up, so I just looked at him.  Finally, with a super sweet smile, Ricky said, “Momma, I’m not buggin’ you!”  I laughed and told him he was right, he wasn’t bugging me.  He then asked for a toy out of the closet!  I have never made him give me a toy for bugging me, so I’m not sure he really earned the toy, but he was so sweet about it, that I gave in.