Dear Lincoln and Carver (mostly Lincoln),

As you enter into your toddler stage, you’re becoming more difficult. Really, really difficult. I’m going to have to start disciplining you. I don’t like it, and I don’t even know if I’m doing it right.

The other day, Lincoln, you wanted to bring in a toy into the bathtub. Frankly, I’m tired of toys breaking or coming apart when it goes into the water, so I said No. You cried and cried. Your bath took twice as long. But you see… I need to do this because I need to teach you limits. I’ll need to teach you patience, self control, coping mechanisms, and the fact that you can’t always get your way. I need to teach you now so that Carver doesn’t learn any bad habits from you.

I was at Trader Joes the other day and it was raining really hard. Two men in their early twenties walked up to me and asked for money. They said they were homeless. They actually had really nice stuff on them. Nice backpack and pretty nice clothes and shoes. The thing is, they were probably homeless. But they were also probably on heroin. It become quite an epidemic. Anyways, where I’m going with this is. Part of being a parent is to provide you teachable moments and to discipline because I want the two of you to become productive members of society. Dad and I are walking on uncharted waters, but hopefully everything will work out in the end.