Jack is advanced for his age.  He has not yet turned two but is preparing for the milestone by perfecting his fit throwing.  I’ve had an idea that perhaps this child would be a challenge behaviorally when he began going on hunger strikes at one.  He has perfected “NO!” and often takes it up a notch by pointing and saying “No, no, ma’am.”  Logan had thrown his fair share of whoppers in his time but his fits didn’t begin until later.  He was an easy baby and toddler.  Preschool was his time to shine.  Last night Jack became enraged because I wouldn’t let him have a second piece of “Fifa” (aka pizza).  The kid would eat until he popped if allowed, so I have to set these cruel limits sometimes.  The fit began with a “No! Fifa!” and then escalated with a thrown sippy cup.  He began pounding his high chair tray and yelling at Logan for simply looking his way.  I took him out of the high chair and began carrying the big lug towards the bathroom for his bath.  During this time, he began arching his back, kicking his legs, and screaming “NO! NO! MAMA!”  In the bathroom I calmly set him on the floor so we could prepare for his bath. There was gnashing of teeth and tearing of clothes but I remained calm.  Trey and Logan both stuck their heads in the bathroom to make sure I was still alive.  Jack kept trying to crawl away as I was removing his clothes.  We settled into a rhythm.  He’d flip onto his belly and start crawling and I’d pull him back by whatever clothing item I was working to remove.  I began to take off his diaper, which further enraged the little monster sweetheart.  He began pulling at his (ahem) self and screaming “No, no pee pee!”  At this point, I’m sure he had forgotten the original reason for his fit.  I picked him up and put him in the water.  He screamed even more.  “No, no water!”  I calming began to bathe him singing our regular bath time songs.  “No, no la la la!”  I remained calm and ignored the fit.  Bath is followed by bedtime…we are almost there!  Eyes on the prize, mama, eyes on the prize.  I saw it in his eyes.  This fit wasn’t effective, he needed a new tactic.  But what?  Screaming, writhing, and splashing hadn’t worked.  What else could he do?  Jack began throwing his face forward into the water and gulping water.  He’d sit up, swallow, and yell “NO!” before repeating again.  I’m not sure his reasoning but assume it was something like “I’ll make her pay!  I’ll drink water from the tub!”  I hid my face so he couldn’t see my giggles.  It was honestly the most ridiculous thing I’ve seen.  He was so mad and had victory all over his face.  We finished the bath and the fit continued as I got him dressed.  fortunately just as I was out of “calm,” he was out of “mad” and we snuggled for a few books before bed.  I’m hoping and praying that we are getting these power struggles out-of-the-way early but love him just enough to deal with whatever comes.  This morning I became irritated in traffic and my first thought was, I’ll show him…I’ll drink water!   My second thought was “thank goodness no one is documenting my fits!”  (In other news, Trey has decided to start a new blog titled “You won’t believe what I have to put up with…”)