Rules are Rules. Except When They Aren't.

Ryan's brain is so literal. He sees things black and white, cut and dry. Rules are very easy for him to follow, for example, but he cannot comprehend "exceptions" to the rules. Clara, my 18-month old, was playing with our old cordless phone. It wasn't connected anymore and I didn't care if she wanted to walk around with it, pretending to talk. Ryan couldn't understand how the rule of "phones are not toys, we don't play with the phones" could be overlooked. So he proceded to try to take the phone from her and when she threw it on the floor, he kicked her in the stomach. He wasn't trying to hurt her. He just doesn't understand.
This is going to be a struggle for me, because having two little ones (currently 18 months and 4 months) means that a lot of things are going to go against the grain of Ryan's way of thinking. The majority of his speaking is "Clara's got that", "Clara's going to get that", "Clara, give me THAT",etc. I was reading him a book after school today, and he couldn't focus because he was watching what Clara was doing, watching for her to break the rules. What am I going to do when Nicholas starts getting into things?!? How do you explain that rules are rules...except, sometimes they aren't?