Too Smart "4" His Own Good - Need Advice

If you have met my Ethan, you'll understand where I'm coming from with this post.

My son has a very acute sense of humor. He is refreshingly witty for his age and might just be as sarcastic as myself and my husband combined - scary thought.

He is quick to pick up on things, and he never misses a beat. The more I blog, the more often I will get to share his witty comments and sassy comebacks - otherwise known as talking back (no one told me this could start at 4!!).

I feel completely unprepared for this type of negotiating with my son and apparently I am doing all the things wrong - you know the things that cause SuperNanny to come. I used to laugh at those people. I used to say they were stupid and any retard could see why their kids acted that way. Stupid, stupid people.. um, I'm one of them now I think.

I do take pride in how quickly Ethan has jumped on the wagon and can definitely hold his own in a conversation - just wish it wasn't with me, when I'm trying to discipline him :)

Let me give you an example (and why I'm running out of ideas on how to discipline this child.) For those of you who saw my FB post the other day, we had a very rough day on Monday. Lucas screamed all day, and Ethan seems to take this as a signal to be as disobedient as he can - and he read it LOUD and CLEAR.

Let me first explain that we do timeouts at our house. We also take away toys, or threaten to take away prized possessions in order to get our 4 year old to obey. I don't promote spanking, although I have done it - twice - and I still cry thinking about it.

But, it has become increasingly difficult to discipline my sarcastic older son as he has found alternative answers that completely "ruin" the discipline tactic.

For example - on Monday ONE of the things he decided to do to get my attention was dump out ALL his crayons and markers over the dining room floor. When I told him he needed to pick them up, he quickly responded with his favorite word "no". I told him he needed to pick them up or he was going into timeout. He said "fine", and sat down where he does his timeouts. Not what I was hoping for.

I then proceeded to tell him that he will sit there until he decides to pick up his crayons like I asked. "OK" he says. Great, now what, I think to myself. I decide to pull the next "trick" out - "Ethan, if you don't pick up your crayons and markers and take care of your stuff we will give them to someone who will." That should work, I thought to myself.. hmph, wrong again.

Ethan's reply? "That's fine mom. Do you want to give them to Matthew? (That's the neighbor boy we seem to "threaten" to give his stuff to a lot). You can pick them all up and give them to him, if you want, mom. I don't like to color anyways, so.."

He is doesn't care that I'm going to give his crayons away. He doesn't care that he is sitting in timeout and he's now made a suggestion that I pick them up to give them away because he doesn't like them anyway.. what just happened here??

I have lots of days like this, lots of similar conversations and they are getting more difficult to manage through. My son is too smart "4" his own good (four years old.. get it, hahaha).

I'm looking for advice or just people to share their stories of how their children ran a conversation or two in their home so I know I'm not the only one going through this.

Please, share :)