They come in drafts, these phases of perpetual “NO-s” and sheer defiance. Just when you thought that things were getting a little better than 36 hours ago, a 3-year old massive temper tantrums with incredible amount of defiance can hit you like pellets from a BB-Gun.

That was one of our mornings circa 3 weeks ago. According to Spud, everything was a NO.

NO. She didn’t want to get out of bed.

NO. She didn’t want to take off her pajamas.

NO. She didn’t want to shower.

NO. She didn’t want to brush her teeth.

NO. She didn’t want to walk and would rather lie down motionless on the floor, claiming that she couldn’t get up.

That morning also happened to be Silver Bullet’s turn for Spud’s morning routine, and for several days in a row that week, Spud decided that she was going to focus her efforts on Silver Bullet and Silver Bullet alone. It was, in our household, a pretty rare occurrence where Silver Bullet got it rougher than I usually would. He was so frustrated with her that he ignored her and just left her lying on the floor with her cheeks stuck to the bathroom floor (her doing!)while he went about his daily morning business.

Watching from the sidelines as I attended to Squirt, I could feel Silver Bullet’s frustrations escalated as smoke was concurrently coming out of his ears. I took over as calmly as I could as Silver Bullet exited the scene. Spud surprised me by co-operating with me and she literally was ready in record time!

10 seconds later at breakfast, the NO-s continued.

NO. She didn’t want her milk in her cereal. She was upset that there was actually milk in her cereal and took the opportunity to throw yet another temper-tantrum. She wouldn’t stop whining and complaining to me about the milk in her cereal. Not wanting to lose my temper, I acknowledged her “misfortune” and told her to eat them around her milk.

Being the little imp that she is, she then decided to quit complaining and then started draining off her milk into her mouth, a spoonful at a time.

Then, it was a NO, she didn’t want to put on her socks.

NO. She didn’t want to put on her shoes.

NO. She didn’t want to carry her schoolbag.

And then she wanted a band-aid on her scraped knee. When we said that she didn’t need it, she then insisted she needed some water from the kitchen first even though a) she drank more than a camel would have drunk for breakfast and b) she could drink it from her water bottle which was already in her bag!

The battle for power continued, and  we were already running late. Tired of negotiating and trying to handle the situation as calmly and as objectively as we could, we finally left her at the door. This would usually be enough for Spud to realize that we mean business, but on that day, Spud showed her side of stubbornness we haven’t witnessed before. She refused to give in and continued to mercilessly test Silver Bullet;  so much so that Silver Bullet lost his patience and left her behind, closing the door behind us.

We then went into the elevator and as soon as the elevator door started closing on us, I thought I heard our main door opened and saw her standing right in front of the elevator in a frenzy, screaming away.  She then screamed her guts out – and at the back of my mind, I was almost freaking out, thinking of the bizarre possibility that she had gotten herself caught between the elevator’s doors! A strong set of lungs she was born with, as when the elevator descended to the 3^rd floor, we could still hear her scream! (Further fueling my worry that something untoward may have happened!)

I put the thought out of my head. Thinking that  the drama was mainly between Silver Bullet and Spud, I stepped back and let him handle the situation. I then walked to the car when we got to the lobby while Silver Bullet decided that he was going to give it one more shot with her and turned around to go back up and get her.

The next thing he knew, Spud came out of the elevator. All by herself, and, crying bloody murder. She had, in her sheer defiance, left her Nanny and took matters into her own hands. The poor Nanny, having witnessed the drama earlier on, was all frenzied as she wasn’t quick enough for Spud to try to stop her from taking the elevator herself as she was minding  Squirt at the same time.

A little bit more drama ensued, and I think all of us, Spud included, were in a little bit of a shock. I don’t think we expected Spud to take the elevator by herself, and I believe Spud surprised herself by doing so. That must have been quite a freaky experience for a 3-year-old to go down some floors in an elevator alone!

Some comfort, hugs and kisses later, everything went back to normal. Suddenly that moment of NO to everything and the sheer defiance which she had bestowed on us disappeared like it never happened.