Defiance

Here is a summarization of my past few days:

Me:  Celeste, its time to go potty.
Celeste:  No!

Me:  Celeste, please come here.
Celeste:  No!

Me:  Celeste, please, don’t kick the back of the chair.
Celeste:  *Kicks the back of the chair again…*

I swear she is only listening to half of what I ask her to do and its driving me crazy.  In the middle of my crazy I get this:

Celeste keeps kicking the lock on the car door so that when I come around to open the door and let her out, I have to fumble with her baby sister and the keys to let her out.  As I’m taking Jules from the car, I wise up to it this time, unlock it before my hands are full and tell her to stop kicking the door lock.

Me:  Celeste, don’t kick the door lock again, I’m coming to get you now and if you lock it I can’t open your door.
Celeste:  Okay.
Me:  Thank you.  *Gets Jules out of the car and start to come around to the other side of the car*
Celeste:  *Kicks the lock on the door to engage it*
Me:  *Opening the cargo bay to get other stuff*  So, you locked the car door… after I asked you not to.  Deliberately. 
Celeste:  Yes (FINALLY a yes, but not what I was hoping for).
Me:  I should just leave it locked and go inside without you for a minute to show you how that bothers me…
Celeste:  No, I have a good idea.  How about you unlock the door, come and get me and we go inside together! 

I lost my mad right then and there.  She’s too freaking smart.  I can’t even imagine what she’ll be like as a teenager… I shudder to think.  Currently, I try to keep my cool in the face of such defiance.  I don’t want her to see that it bother me as much as it does.  I repeat things three times and then just take any option away from her.  I tell her why I’m upset and why I’m not very playful after a defiant moment.  This approach calms her down for a moment but I don’t see it stopping the next act of defiance coming my way.  I’m hoping, however, that if I can sail through this, we’ll come out on the other side alright because I’m not sure how much of this is a willful child and how much of this is a simple toddler behavior.

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