Max has me dreading the teenage years. Late last week Max started imposing his independence on us and has been going out of his way to start problems. He'll deliberately ignore something you tell him, when he is told to go to time out he will fall to the floor instead, when he is put in time out he will turn around and walk right back out of his room, and to top it all off, he has started talking back. I got told I was "stupid" numerous times while we struggled with each other yesterday.

Today? He almost didn't get to go to preschool. He would not get dressed and had every toy in his bedroom removed while he sassed back. Thankfully I was somewhat prepared and had him getting ready for school an hour before it started. He also had to apologize to his teacher when we got there because he was late. He didn't like that, but she was very willing to wait for him to talk and gave me a little wink when it was over. Sadly, I actually needed that reassurance, it was nice to have her support.

I know, I know, this is just yet another phase that he will outgrow. This is also an extremely trying time as I'm really struggling with keeping my cool and not showing too much emotion. He is doing this specifically to get me riled up, I can see that, so trying to keep calm and use few words is the problem. It's wearing me out. Somebody tell me this will be short lived? Pretty please?

Oh and did I mention I've decided to remove his nap? I know, that seems counter-productive but really it isn't. He's been staying up later and later and getting into more and more trouble at night, so we're removing the nap. He can take naps when he needs them, maybe twice a week, and we'll go from there. Hopefully that will help out with the bedtime struggles. He already slept later this morning after falling asleep shortly after being put to bed last night, so I'm going to call that a win. And I need a win today.