Our Little Negotiator

We've always loved to give Carter choices. It was particularly helpful through the toddler years for him to feel that he had some control. We'd provide him with several options that were all agreeable to us but he got to make the decision.

Recently, he's started to try to work the system. Last weekend, we were at a restaurant, and Carter had gotten out of his seat. He wandered over to my chair and I told him to go sit down. He started to head back to his chair, but then turned around and came back to me to say, "I need two options." And in the subsequent days, he keeps trying to up the number of choices we give him, thinking that whatever he wants to do will surely be presented, if he just has more choices! "I need three options; I need five options..." etc...

I have to admit that I've been knowingly training him up for this since he was a baby, and there is a part of me that loves his growing evil genius!