Doesn't she look cute?

so innocent, so sweet....?

yeah right!!! while she can definitely be all of those things, and while i love her beyond words, this child has gotten into an absolute trouble-making streak lately!! it feels like i'm pushing against a brick wall to get her to do any thing. i know that she's just testing her boundaries, exerting her independence, etc. i know. i know that she's a certifiably strong-willed child, just like her mother was, and that every day i feel more and more remorse for my own mother having raised me.

it's like her brain has been wiped clean of every rule and expectation that we've ever set. in the past two days, she has:

• repeatedly ignored my requests to stop coming/going through the back door while playing outside, eventually catching the baby's fingers in the door.
  
• is screaming "NO" at me constantly.
• has come under the mistaken assumption that everything that is asked of her is up for negotiation, which she will argue ENDLESSLY
• jumped from the windowsills
• stood ON TOP OF the dog's automatic watering contraption, spilling water everywhere
• taken the popcorn seasoning and sprinkled/spread it out all over her bedspread. now her bed smells like parmesan and garlic.
• completely ignored time-outs and "breaks"
  
• locked me out of the house ON PURPOSE just so she can go to her room and poop in her pants, ignoring my banging on the door and threatening her with her life.

this is just a few of the things i've been experiencing lately. there are many, many more, but i don't have time. i didn't write this to showcase my daughter's faults, but none of them seem to make sense. i can NOT figure out how to get through to this child. i'm meeting her every challenge, but it seems like i'm in a power struggle with her every second of every day!! it's just been in the last week or so that's it's gotten SO bad, but it's constant.

i mean, not a day goes by that shiloh doesn't make me laugh, say a sweet prayer, or touch my heart with a helping and thoughtful gesture. i know she's going to be a great kid. i know this is just a season, a phase. i know this is going to pass. but that doesn't mean that i'll have any hair left by the time it does!!!