There are some things that you know as a parent you will say, whether you swore you would or not, like, "Cause I said so. That's why"and " Ask your father." I told myself that I would never say, "Because I am your mother," but have said it more than a handful of times.

We have a rule in our house with the little ones. If we have not explained that something should not be done, we cannot assume that they know not to do it. This makes for very interesting sentences that we thought we would never have to say.

Here are some of my recent favorites, and by "favorites," I actually mean "the most painful."

In response to finding two iPods in the sink and being told by my 3-year-old that they were dirty: "Ipods don't go in sinks!"

In response to a $100 plumbing job that resulted in finding Sleeping Beauty lodged in the toilet and having the 4-year-old say that the toy had to go potty: "Toys don't go potty!"

In response to finding pennies in the slot of my Apple computer's disc drive and being told by my  3-year-old that he saw a toy on the "bocuter" (computer) and wanted to buy it: "Computers don't make toys."

These were only in the last week, for a total of over $500 in repairs. See why these were my favorites?

While it hurt my pocketbook, once the immediate anger and frustration dies, you can't help but have a smile on  your face when you see that your children are learning, problem-solving and growing with each day. In just a little while, they will be grown up and you can laugh at the little daily things that happened when they were kids. You may even get them to pay you back, but don't hold your breath!