My New Battle

I've heard from other parents of toddlers that you have to pick and choose your battles. I get that, but sometimes it's hard for me to decide which battles to pick and which ones to let go. It would be nice if they quickly learned that when I said "no" that they would stop what they are doing and go about their business. But we all know that's not how it works. My three love to be told "no". They think it's hilarious. To them, "no" means Do-it-again-with-a-huge-smile-on-my-face. They want to make sure that I'm watching when they do said thing that I told them not to do. They love it. And sure, I know the whole saying that they are just trying to get attention from me. I give them attention all day long. Most of the time I'm sitting right there with them when they decide to play their game of "I love it when mommy tells me no". I've decided to let a few things go, but when I say no about a certain thing I say no every time rather than sometimes letting it go. I really try to be consistent, but it's frustrating. So, here's my new battle. The Ottoman:

Look how proud she is of herself. We've had this ottoman for several months and she has never shown any interest in climbing on top of it. But, this afternoon she figured it out. I stood over her and tried to make sure that she didn't fall off. Then Maddux climbed up on top too. Then Nola gets on her knees and starts gyrating up and down like she was in a hip hop club and proceeded to fall off. Good, I thought. Maybe that will scare her and she won't get back up. Wrong. Only now she wants to stand up. I admit that I'm the type of mother that wants to prevent every boo boo and doesn't ever want them to get hurt. But, now what do I do? Maybe they won't get hurt if they fall off. But what if there is a hard toy in the floor and they land on it and knock all of their teeth out?? The more I tell them "No, don't stand up" they try to stand up quicker that you can say "watch me!". I've already put her in time out over five times and there appears to be no end in site. Looks like the ottoman goes or I'm going to see lots of bruises from falling in my future.