It's always tempting to detail the bad and pass over the good, but I'll make an effort to record here that by mid-morning, the day has gone well so far. I noticed in particular that as we got ready to take P to school, the usual string of objections to just about everything emanated from S, but being a little older, and a little more competent, he sorted some of them out to his own satisfaction. His top, for instance. He refused to wear what I'd chosen, and asked for a T-shirt that I couldn't find. Having no solution, I decided to go do something else for 5 minutes, fully expecting roars of anger in the background and possibly a showdown further down the track. Well blow me down, next time I see him, he's found the T-shirt himself, as well as put on his own shoes without being asked to, and doesn't contradict me when, after praising him, I point out that the T-shirt is on backwards. He is adamant that he doesn't want help. Same with his bike helmet. And then, after school drop-off and at the shops, while I chat to a couple of parents, I see him having absolutely delightful conversations with 2 little girls he knows, 1 younger, 1 older. Chats about bikes and chocolate cake, not screeching, no face-pulling, nothing aggressive or off-putting. And we have had no conflict between the 2 of us. Knowing that he wants to be in charge of most things, I guess he does relax a bit when he actually controls enough of his environment. We seem to have found a balance today.