No, No, No

I have found myself saying "No" more now than I have ever done so in my life. Ava is crawling all over the house and into everything. Which is great, I love that she is adventuring around the house and figuring out her home however she as in most children her age want everything they are not allowed to have. She wants to play with the heat vent, to play with the electrical sockets, the dogs toys, the dog food, and anything else that is in her reach on the floor. I have tried to stay consistent with it already because I dont want her to think she can get away with it.

When she starts going for something that isnt hers I tell her "No" really stern and give her lots of eye contact. She will go from her crawling position to sitting up, look at me and reply 'Ah'. We have this conversation about a million times throughout the day, and I am sure both Becky and Ashley have had the pleasure also. After her reply she slowly begins the crawl back towards whatever I had just told her "No" about. So again, she is told "No" and I have been trying to either smack her fingers/thighs just to give it a little bit of an effect and move her away from the object. I know she doesnt know exactly whats going on but she is getting old enough where its starting to connect. She knows what "No" means to a point. We know this because of the way she reacts when we say it. She smiles also when returning to the object and I believe this is her saying 'the heck with it, I want it and I'm gonna try'.

On to Patton, he is just a pup, I know but how many times do I tell him "No" throughout the day, I cant count. He doesnt understand his size and strength yet. He tried to move me and play, and he jolts me sometimes. He can take his butt and knock into me and throw me off balance quick. He is 33 lbs of pup and when he runs and jumps up on me, he is looking at me in the face. He also likes to get into everything he isnt supposed to, he wants Ava's toys, socks, to go to the bathroom with ya, dryer sheets, and Ava sometimes.

They are so goofy together. They both want to be with each other yet they dont really know how. Ava cant play on the floor anymore without Patton being right beside her, but he bumps into her and down she goes. She pulls on his hair and has more than once taken the toy out of his mouth so she can play with it. This causes Patton to look at me almost to say 'Make her give it back' and then licks her in the face or toes, I believe this is his way of sucking up to her. My time with them has become very interesting and very entertaining and sometimes fustrating. But they are learning.

This past week has consisted of the following conversations with my two little ones.
"No, Patton you dont play with Ava's toys"
"No, Ava, we do not let Patton play with your toys, you do not play with his"
"No, get away from that"
"No, leave her be and let her play"
"No, get that out of your mouth"--that goes to both of them
"Where did you get that? You dont play with that"--also to both of them
"No, you dont climb on me"
"No, you dont pull hair"

Since Ava has become mobile it has gotten busier in the house, the last two evenings I have started eating my dinner on the couch and ended standing in the hall watching her crawl all over. She is so much fun and communicating very well for not being able to say much but "Hi". I am sure she will learn "No" sooner than later as much as she is hearing it. Patton is learning, much better than I could have ever imagined only having him 2 months. He's still a pup, I look at it as having 2 -7 month olds in the house. What Ava is learning, I try to teach him, so they both know their boundaries and they both know the rules. As she learns to walk/run around I know it will be more entertaining and to see how Patton reacts will be fun.