Stressful at times

Most days are good, but some wear me down real fast. The last couple of days Brosnan has been testing my patience and threatening my sanity. I can't quite figure out what the problem is. The kid has attitude, whines, and lies.

Me: "Did you clean up the mess?" 
Brosnan (with a HUGE grin, wide eyes, and excessive head nodding):  "Yes! I did"
Me: Are you sure?
Brosnan: Yes, it's clean. Just don't go look at it though.

Another example:
Brosnan is lying on the living room floor on one of the couch cushions he pulled off. I asked him to get up and put everything back, he tells me he can't because his head is so heavy and he is so tired.

The things he says is extremely funny, yet he is SO persistent. Eventually he will be crying and waiting for me to breakdown. When he realizes that I am ignoring him he will either wander around the house looking for more attention or go start making messes.

I've spent a lot of energy ignoring his behavior. I almost feel bad when 10 minutes has gone by and he is still lying on the floor insisting that I pick him up..."You just do it. I can't do it Mom, I'm just so tired"  I'm hoping that my persistence will pay off and he will realize that his crazy behavior will not get the response that he wants.

The hardest part is that he does it for EVERYTHING. In most cases I can hold my ground, but there are other times when it is so much easier to give in and do it for him, such as getting dressed or putting shoes on when it is time to leave. I have realized that he is fully capable of getting dressed AND putting his shoes on by himself, although 9 times out of 10 everything is on backwards, when I mention this to him he states, "I know, that's how I like it"  It takes me a minute to get him dressed, waiting for him can take hours. With that said, he gets excited every time he does it for himself and on the rare occasions when he did not stall or put up a fight, I get a little break by only having Arcadian to get ready.  

I am hoping that with my perseverance and patience Brosnan will get the idea and start to do things on his own without crying about it.

The other two boys are doing good. Justice is enjoying kindergarten and Arcadian is acting like a 2 year old.  We are all missing daddy but so far we are managing well with him gone. It's almost been a month which means only 3 more to go!!!

JP