laying the smack down.

it is 7:07 on sunday morning.
my face looks like this:

i know what you're thinking. totally attractive right?

my teeth have gone through my lip and this was taken for bragging rights after i had cleaned it up.

my teeth have gone through my lip because my toddler's head went through my mouth. 7:00 head butt?
i don't know who was more upset by the blood all over the toddler bed, but i was relieved it was coming from me and not him.

now back it up to 7:30 last night. my two foot tall jackie chan is lacing me in the face with the most perfected two year old karate kicks while i try SO HARD not to raise my voice, rationally explaining to my son that actually, it does hurt me when he throws a hard foot jab into my throat.

the kid has been laying the smack down. he lays the smack down, i throw my arms up.

i really want to be [that. parent] who is cool as a cucumber and never raises their voice and just calmly removes their child from wal-mart when they do that limp-body tantrum move on the dirty floor in the toy section and start wailing because they want to take home every digger in sight. actually i did handle that one pretty well [pat on the back].

but for real, how do you deal with the toddler violence? time-outs? yes, i do that. rational discipline? yep, been there too. taking away priviledges/toys for bad behaviour? covered.

any other ideas? please throw them my way - just not with a side of jackie chan kicks!