Nope, I don't got it

"Mommy, how's this sound?"

Will piped up from the back of the van on the way to school with another one of his plans to change his world.

"OK. This is how it's going to go ... I won't watch TV one week and then I will watch TV the next week, then I won't watch the next week, then I will watch. What do you think about that? Doesn't that sound like a good idea?"

"Well," I responded, impressed by his ever-growing negotiation skills. "I'm not sure. How much TV are you talking about?"

"None! I wouldn't watch ANY TV that week."

"Right. I get that, but what about the weeks that you DO get to watch TV?"

"No. Mommy. Listen. I wouldn't watch ANY TV one week, then I would the next week, and then I wouldn't again the next week ... do you see the patt-ren?"

"Yes. I see the pattern. But I'm asking if on the weeks that you DO get to watch TV if you're going to watch TV all the time or just in the mornings and on weekends or what?"

"AAAARGGGHHH! You just don't get it! I wouldn't watch at all one week, then I would the next!"

We continued on like that for awhile and, when I was exhausted and feeling like I'd just been cross-examined by Johnny Cochran, I finally gave up.

"No. I don't like that plan, Will."

"What?? Why??"

"Because I said so."

I don't like to lean on that old standby, but, gosh, that felt so good.