I am getting weary of the shenanigans..................

I should post pictures from the Father/Daughter dance or catch you up on how Aubrey finally was selected as monkey of the week. I could even go on and on about how I have had enough of first grade and am looking forward to this summer. But nothing is taking more time and energy from my life right now than my child who has only been in the world a mere 54 months. If you have any words of wisdom for me, please share because I am at the end of my rope. I will probably re-read 'The strong-willed child' or the lesser known 'why is my kid such a shit all-the-time'? I thought for awhile it was lack of sleep - his, not mine (well really, it's always mine) but we've been on track for a week and there is no change. Does he have that much sugar in a day that I need to throw it all out? I don't know, but the thing is, you NEVER KNOW when a burr will get in his butt and then it's all over.
For example, today, I get up thinking that he's going to throw a fit about getting dressed, but then he gets dressed all by himself with no fanfare. I think he might get upset that I've asked him to carry his lunch box but he grabs it and runs out the door so we can head to school. We are chatting. We are listening to the Jonas Brothers. All is well until he realizes he forgot to bring his Clone Trooper and he asks me to go home and get it. Of course we aren't going home to get it so the crying starts. And I don't mean like he's whining in the back seat. I'm talking full out boo-hoos complete with a few ear-piercing screams and then a threat of unbuckling his seat belt for good measure. I nip that in the bud as usual because I always tell him that it's fine if he unbuckles, I'll just drive on to the police station and he can tell the police man why he doesn't have his seat belt on. I like that threat, because if he ever actually does unbuckle then I'm totally driving to the station. It's like I'm just waiting for him to do it.
To make a long story a little shorter by bullet pointing, I'll let you know how the rest of the day went.

• After the threat of unbuckling doesn't faze me, he yells at me for parking in the back of the school instead of the front. I park in the back of the school EVERY DAY.
• Then he says he is not unbuckling and I give him the choice to unbuckle or I will do it. After a slow count of 5, I unbuckle him and lift him out of the car. This starts the screaming anew, so I have to carry him like a football down the million stairs inside the building. Everyone is staring at us. Everyone.
• I take him to the side and give him the choice of going in nicely or not nicely. Nicely will earn a fun day with mom after school. Not nicely means no tv or computer after school. After continuing this conversation for WAY too long, he has obviously chosen the 'not nicely' route and I set him inside his classroom and walk out hearing him scream bloody murder on my way out. Thank God I'm on my way to a yoga class to get it back together before seeing him again. He has NEVER done this to me before. He did it to Mark about a week ago when he took him to school. We chalked the majority up to the fact that Mark never takes him to school so the change might have caused it. NO way.
• This afternoon, he threw a toy at the window when I told him that he couldn't play on the computer and reminded him why he couldn't. I picked it up and put it on top of the fridge. (Later, I sat on the floor and played a memory game and cars with him.)
• He wouldn't put his shoes on when we had to leave the house again so I made him carry them to the car. He threw them on the floorboard when I said that he could have his bag of popcorn after his shoes were on. That caused me to lose it for just a bit and I had to yell at him for making it so difficult and why couldn't he just put on his FREAKIN' SHOES! He finally decided to do it and then asked for the popcorn. And I had to nicely, singy-songy say, 'Absolutely!' with a smile on my face.
• He slammed the pantry door when I said I was making dinner and we would not be having a snack. I grabbed his arm and told him that we don't slam doors. Then he picked up a DVD and threw it in the kitchen. That got him sent to his room. He wouldn't stay so I told him I would add another minute if he didn't go back in. He went back in and slammed the door. I opened it and gave him a quick smack on the booty for that and went back out.

That was just today. And I'm exhausted. And frankly surprised that there was not some other melt down at bedtime. There is usually something that doesn't go his way so again you just wait for it. Tonight, we did our entire pre-bedtime routine and there was not one scene of screaming or throwing or crying. Shocking, really.

His teacher said in our meeting last week that he can be a bit manipulative when he doesn't get his way. And they just don't buy into it. They let him make the choice if he wants to pout or play and he usually chooses to play after awhile. It was a very interesting conversation. I thought I learned a lot and would feel better equipped to deal with him. The examples I gave were just of today. Need I mention the fit he threw in Soccer Tots on Sunday because we left when he wouldn't participate. For one, I don't know what we are doing wrong. For two, I am having a hard time putting on a happy face after we get over our moments. It's hard to be nice when you are still so pissed at him!

It's lame to complain about this when I am plugged in to so many blogs of families that are just struggling to keep their baby alive. But I seriously don't know how to make it through the day sometimes. And I know all the coping strategies: parent time outs, breathing, wine drinking. I just want the behavior to stop or at least subside. I could probably handle an incident a day, but this is ridiculous.