My brother Bruce has been here working on our back deck. I think that by the time he is done, Griffin will be ready for toddler boot camp. Griffin just adores his Uncle Bruce, and obviously the feeling is mutual. My problem is that Bruce lets him be as rough as he wants.

Griff is a typical little boy- very physical. He loves to climb, hit, push, and do all that boy stuff. I'm not talking about in any kind of mean spirited way- usually he's giggling and laughing. I try to keep it in check and limit that since he is still learning that he can't just hit someone with a toy. However, this is how he and Bruce play. Bruce will let him hit him in the face, and then he'll pretend that it hurt, and they both laugh. So in typical 2 year old fashion, he's been trying out that kind of play on everyone now. This morning he hit me in the face with his toy hammer. It was plastic, so obviously there was no real damage, but that's not the point.

I don't want to be that overbearing, overprotective mother that dictates how other people interact with her children. I believe that it's part of how they learn to socialize. I'm certainly not complaining that my brother plays with my son, or that it's not the way that I play with him. I'm just having a hard time balancing that feeling with the struggle of teaching Griffin that it's not appropriate to act that way all the time.