Strong-willed Child . . . . .

 . . . . my ass.

My dear sweet daughter is the most stubborn intelligent independent child I have ever met.  For those that know me yes, she's my daughter I know where she gets it - but still, my mother says I was never as awful as she.

Last night she threw a temper tantrum for 30 minutes.  She broke the rules and she was pissed.  She knows she needs to stay in bed - no talking, screaming, playing or jumping - or she loses her movie.  She lost her movie.

Since she wouldn't stay in bed after her initial punishment for getting out of bed I removed a toy everytime she got out of bed.  By the end of the night there were no toys left in her room and I had filled two laundry baskets.  I told her if she was quiet and stayed in bed for 5 minutes she could earn one toy back - her bear, but the rest she would get tomorrow.

All of this started at 8:45pm last night.  I think I finally got to give her her bear back around 9:20pm.

So this morning Daddy gets to be the hero and give her toys back......however, every time she throws a screaming crying fit he's to take a toy.  It'll probably take a week before we start to see any improvement - just hope we can hold out that long.

Apparently the universe has a very sick sense of humor....the "mother's curse" - I hope you have a child that's as bad as you - didn't quiet work.  My mother has told me more than once that I got the child that my brother should have.  Also, I now understand why my mother always said "if I had your brother first there would be no more".....lucky for me he's the youngest.