oh no, you all have children who are older than my DD and they are STILL doing this so my hopes and dreams that have been resting on "growing out of this" have just been smashed up against reality. I was just being melodramatic to fit with the theme :-) Seriously though, I am hoping this evens out. Actually, I try to tell myself that this is the improvement. Yes, believe it or not, this is an improvement over where we were a year ago. I added some fish oil to her diet and tried the Nurtured Heart Approach and that took a tiny bit of the edge off, but still, spirited is a rather weak word for it some days :-) I have a friend who called her DD spirited and I wanted to say, "Are you talking about your submissive, meek, mousy daughter???" I love that kid, but have seen her in many settings and that child's "fiestiness" is a joke to me. That child clings on her mom whereas mine marches up to a line of adults and makes demands and requests when she was two and three. I have never seen that child cry or make demands etc. Sure she may be "worse" in private, but lucky for you you don't have to endure public humiliation, mine is worse in private too, but her public can have some pretty embarassing moments. Again, I have to remind myself she is so much better than she was.I can imagine how you wanted to hang your head when your child acted that way right after you had talked about a grade skip. I can imagine standing in your shoes and have been in similar situations. Oh yeah, for those of you who have profoundly gifted kids, it somehow almost makes it seem more sympathetic. I don't even know how gifted my DD is--what if she isn't very gifted and acts like this? She'll have no good excuse! ha ha