My Negotiator

I tell Joshua stories all the time but here are two prime examples of my expert negotiator. I must admit that I thought I'd have more time before he started to outsmart me. This is humbling. Well for your amusement...

Case 1
Joshua likes to eat a snack in the car on the way home from school. There are two snacks that I offer in the car: individually wrapped fruit snacks and granddaddy crackers (aka Nilla wafers). I usually let Joshua eat 2 fruit snacks, one right away and one after we drive over the bridge. (I should add the the entire drive from daycare to the house is about 30min so it's not that long of a drive.) I do this to make them last longer so I don't have to listen to how hungry he is the whole way home. Recently Joshua said "Mommy can I have 2 fruit snacks?" I repeated my standard answer and said he could have one now and the second one after the bridge. He said "Okay so the first one before the bridge, right?" I agreed as I handed him back his snack. He happily ate it down right away and asked for his fruit snack about 5 minutes later. And here's the rest:
Me:  We aren't even to the bridge yet. You know the rules. You'll have to wait.
Joshua: But Mommy, you said I could eat the first fruit snack before the bridge.
Me: I know and I already gave it to you and you ate it.
Joshua: No Mommy, you gave me the second one and I already ate it, now I want the first snack.
Me: What? No I gave you the first snack and you ate it.
Joshua: No you gave me the second snack first and I ate that one. Now I want the first one. You said I could eat it before the bridge. Pretty please!

All I can say is wow, my son's a negotiator! How can you say no to logic like that!?! Of course I caved and gave him the other fruit snack. Now on to part II.

Case 2
As I've said I have two snacks in the car. The second snack, granddaddy crackers, is really for Noah, although Joshua eats them too. These are less of a choke hazard and Noah's not allergic to any ingredients. Anyway I usually hand them back to Noah two at a time because he is in a rear facing car seat and it's a pain to stretch back that far from the driver's seat when he can't see me and hand them to him. Anyway after handing Noah a snack I usually hand back 3 crackers to Joshua because, according to J's logic, "I get 3 because I'm 3 years old!" He must have been hungry the other day because he worked this angle:
Joshua: Noah is growing. He will get bigger and bigger and bigger. You should give him 2 crackers because he's almost 2 years old.
Me: Well he's not even 1 1/2 so I wouldn't say he's almost 2, but he is a growing boy so I'll give him 2 crackers.
Joshua: Well you know I'm a growing boy too and if Noah's almost 2 then it means I'm almost 4, right?
Me: Sortof, but Noah's not almost 2 though he will be 2 on his next birthday and you're not almost 4 but you will be 4 on your next one...
Joshua: So since Noah got 2 crackers for being almost 2 can I have 4 crackers since I'm almost 4? It will be fair mommy.

I really have my hands full with Joshua. These stories remind me a lot of myself when I was little. All I can say is that I hope Noah can outwit him from time to time, otherwise he and Aunt Stoppie will have a lot to talk about at family gatherings.