Choosing your battles

I have really had to choose my battles with little man lately. He gets upset so easily and I can't understand it, but a lot of time in the midst of it, I realize that I have to be the bigger person and not get emotional like Cale and man is that hard. I don't always want to be the bigger person-I want to have my temper tantrum too when Cale does! And let me tell you that there are many times I fail in being the bigger person and let the emotions get the best of me. I just can't understand the little things-for example if a train doesn't fit exactly right on the train track, he throws it and gets upset or he hits me or Jeff sometimes out of anger or just starts crying over the littlest things. Here is what I have learned so far (and let me tell you I don't always practice what I've learned-there are days where my emotions just break)-but I am learning more to remain calm, don't elevate my voice or get dramatic like him, ask him to go to his room and sit in time out until he is done and one thing that really gets him is when I tell him "I will talk to you or hold you or whatever when you stop crying" and then don't pay attention to his fit, just ask him to go to his room until he is done crying and honestly just don't pay attention to it. He did that tonight and I just tuned it out and he didn't like that and he stopped. I know we don't have all the answers, nor will we ever, that Jeff and I won't always make the right decisions, that we will mess up as we continue on this journey of being parents. I am thinking we may have a strong willed little boy on our hands which in many ways is so exciting, I can't wait to see how he uses this as he develops his personality and explores life, but in some ways it scares me and I wonder how strong willed he will be and how he will fight us. It should be interesting.