Growing pains

So apparently when Little Dude turned three, he also turned into a boy.  My sweet little baby who liked to cuddle in the morning and say "Momma..." lovingly, while gazing up at me, is seemingly gone.  I get glimpses of him from time to time, like today when he got scared by something on an episode of Thomas the Train and wanted to "snuggle on the couch".  But for the most part, my sweet little baby has turned into a full fledged boy: annoying habits, snappy comments and all.

I knew it was coming.  It was inevitable.  But it was still surprising all the same.  He's really testing his boundaries, which is, in turn, testing my patience.  Needless to say, there's been a lot of tears and timeouts (for both of us) over the past few days.  Part of me is hoping that this is an anomaly, brought on by the excitement of his birthday, grandparents visiting, Christmas, etc.  But the realist in me knows that the easy days are probably over for a while.  We're both novices at this.  While he figures out how far he can push me and what is appropriate, I am figuring out what to react to, what to ignore, how to teach, and how to punish.  I know we'll get there in time.  In the meantime, we're experiencing some growing pains.