I'm not giving in ..... you first!

It's battle of the will with Alex lately. Everything starts with a "No" whether he wants it or not. It drives me up the wall sometimes .......

Our usual morning starts with ....... at 6:00am .... "Mummmmmm" two seconds later "Mummmmmmmmmmm" and then silent. 6:30am ... "Mum" and I will turn around and we will have our nice hug in bed. He is quiet considerate sometimes but as soon as he sees the clock turned 6:45am, he will get out of bed and run into his own room and start pulling drawers out and pouring it's contents all over the floor. I would normally let him play on his own until I hear nothing and knows that he is up to no good. By then, I will get out of bed (he knows that if he goes quiet, I will get out of bed - what a cheeky devil) and he will then have his shower, brush his teeth, change into his day clothes and then go downstairs for breakfast. He will choose his own breakfast and help me to prepare them. That's how it's always been but lately, he is one pain in the you know where.

The morning started as always but this time, when I ask him what he wanted for breakfast, he would say "No". I'll give him a few choices and he will say no to everyone of them. I had to choose one and as soon as he saw what I got him .... he'll say "No" and then look again and say "hmmm" and ate the whole thing. What a contrary boy .....

From asking him if he needed the toilet to what he wanted for dinner is always a "no" and then a "hmmmm" except when I ask him if he wanted a bath and if he wanted cake.

I forget that my son is getting older and that sometimes, he has his own mind ... but because he is not talking .... it makes it harder to change the way I treat him.

I have always thought that when he starts talking, everything would be OK but now I am not sure. We will have new sets of problems to deal with and mostly because we won't know how to treat him.

His cognitive ability is at 3.5 years old, his speech is at 18 -22 months, his fine motor abilities at the level of a 24 - 26 months child. So .... the question is

Should we treat him as a four year old or should we treat him as a 2 year old?