"I Love You"

I've been giving Max "time outs" in his bedroom for hitting (he usually just hits us).  When I open the door at the end of his "time out," I give him a hug and say, "Mommy loves you, Max, but you don't hit"...yada yada yada.  The last couple of days, any time that I say "I love you" to Max, he replies either "hit" or "don't hit."  Oops.  I guess I should tell him that I love him at other times than during a "time out."

Here's another recurrent dialogue between Max and me from a few weeks back"

Max (pointing at potted plant): dee-doe

Me: Yes, Max, a spider lives there (which is true--it emerges from the rim of the plant every time I water it)

Max: touch

Me: You're right.  We don't touch spiders.

Max: dane-juss

Me: Yes, they can be dangerous.

We had been observing this spider for a couple of weeks.  It's pretty obvious what I had been telling him about spiders.