My 3 three-year-old son can be the biggest toddler terror on the planet one minute, and the most adorable and charming little sweetheart the next. Much like the weather in the Midwest, he can go from one extreme to the other in a matter of minutes.

Just the other day while we were grocery shopping, he decided to have a classic toddler meltdown which was bad enough to make mommy want to run for the hills (or the liquor aisle). He was flat on his back and flailing about like a kid making a snow angel. All while making huffing and puffing sounds mixed in with the occasional whine and cry. This embarrassing display of behavior all stemmed from my refusal to let him pick out another box of the same cereal that he already had a full box of at home. Stinkin little 3-year-olds have no concept of the inflated cost of cereal these days. Anyway, this future Supernanny episode lasted a good 10-15 minutes. Thankfully, most of the other unfortunate shoppers who mistakenly stumbled upon the cereal aisle were sympathetic to me with their glances and remarks. Needless to say, it was one long grocery trip.

What can I say? When my youngest is bad?he?Ts bad. But when he?Ts good, my heart starts a-melting. This heart melting goodness is all in the way he phrases some of his sentences. His latest expression of cuteness is, ?oMommy, my voice says I?Tm hungry.? He uses this phrase when he wants a snack but is unsure if he will get one. The sentence alone does no justice to how cute it is in person where you can see his insecure facial expression and hear his little raspy voice.

I don?Tt know a mom alive who doesn?Tt delight in hearing her young child say the words, ?oI love you mommy.? I am no different. My son has a couple of variations on this popular phrase. He will also say with an assured tone, ?oI love mommy and daddy? and ?oI love mommy and daddy and my brother and?..? He fills in the rest with names of our extended family members and anyone else he?Ts met. Sure?most of the time he uses this to get out of trouble because he?Ts figured out that his mommy is an easy sell. My little Dr. Jekyll makes it so easy for me to forget about all of his Mr. Hyde moments.