Are You Listening?

  I have reached the point with my oldest son (4 yrs.) that feels like he couldn't care less about what I have to say if it requires him to do anything for me. This is probably a totally normal stage for him to be going through, but I do not like it!

  It used to be so easy, all I had to do was say "Sweetie, will you get me ...." or "Honey, I need you to...." and he would do it. No fit, no screaming, no ignoring me. Then we moved into having to make it fun or an adventure. It was exhausting! We would play a game called "Secret Agent Corbin". I would hold my wrist up to my mouth like I was speaking into a spy watch and say "Secret Agent Corbin, come in Secret Agent Corbin! I have a mission for you! I need you to put your shoes away for me." Which caused him to get all excited and run around like some awesome spy guy. For a minute it was very useful and so easy to get him to do his chores. But alas, it didn't last.

  Now we have moved into dangerous territory. At this point, If I ask him to do something, Its like trying to make a stubborn mule walk. I tell him to clean up his dishes and he wont even look at me..... or worse, he just stares at me, like what I had just said did not compute. Then, of course, I deal with the times that he just yells no at me and says "but I cant right now!" or he growls at me like a rabbid animal.

But I know that eventhough it seems like he is NEVER listening to me, he actually is listening sometimes..... ofcourse, he is just listening to the things that I dont want him to hear. You know what I mean! And here is how I know he listens every once in a while...... When he flat out lies to his brother about some exagerated amazing thing that never in a million years would he actually do or get and when I say "What are you talking about? That isnt true" he says "Shhh... Im trying to entertain him!" Yes, I am guilty of doing this (my head is hung in shame). Sometimes I need to divert his attention or get him to calm down for a second so I'll say something like, "shhhh.... Dax do you want a cookie? In ten minutes a huge dump truck full of cookies is going to show up and you can have as many as you want if you just be quiet for a minute!"

  GRRRRRRRRR....  How to deal with this?? I definitely have a few things that I'm going to try, but I just wish that I didn't have to try anything. Seriously, why doesn't anyone every tell you about this crap before you have kids, and give you a how-to, on how to get through it!? I wish that he would just listen and bend to my every will (maniacal laugh)!!!!

I know I am not alone here, but sometimes it feels like that....