He basically is a drama king and he tries to manipulate us into doing what he wants and then he has a meltdown when it doesn't work. He's enjoyed several days of staying home from school and being pampered....getting to eat his favorite foods just so he'll eat SOMETHING, and getting to play on the computer all day...so it's natural that even though he's feeling better, he wants that pampering to continue. So I went to wake the kids up for school and he complained that he didn't want to get up. And I did the "Sorry, kiddo, but you need to get dressed" thing and he said he didn't want to go to school. I said I know, and I didn't particularly want to be up, but sometimes we have to do things we'd rather not do. So then he starts crying and shouting "ow ow ow" and saying the light is too bright. But there was no light on in his room at all. The only light was in the hallway, and that had been on since before he woke up, so the sudden trouble with the lights was nonsense and obviously just him trying to manipulate me. So I ended up having to go into his room and literally dress him like I would dress a baby...he lay there and screamed the whole time. I warned him that if I had to carry him downstairs, he'd most likely get hurt in the process, so he'd better get up and walk himself, and he refused. Then I had to pick him up and carry him out of his room because he still wouldn't get up. Finally we got to the stairs with him screaming his fool head off and he kicked up a REAL fuss and I gave him the opportunity once again to go on his own steam and when he wouldn't, I started counting. I got to 2 and he decided he'd better move. But since we had a similar meltdown on the weekend because he wanted something special for lunch but screamed at me because I hadn't been to the store yet, daddy had threatened then that he would be without computer or ipad and even soccer was on the table to be taken away, as all of that's a privilege for well behaved children. So he had already been warned once and then daddy had a talk with him about it and decided NOT to take away those privileges with the understanding that he would be better behaved. So since he broke that deal, I told him that we'll be having a conversation all three of us when daddy gets home and we will decide then on how long of a ban it will be. But until he learns to listen and not scream at me, he'll have a very boring life.
