I am too tired to say much more than - thank you for this thread.
Actually I do have a few random thoughts - I think GeoMamma and I may have been twins separated at birth.
Ultramarina - I found your stories of things your DD did happily and then never asked for again fascinating. My kids a) tend to resist "new". They have to be given a shove to go out and play, to look at something new, etc, but will then run with it way further than expected, and will keep asking for people/stuff they miss to come back.
I remember reading "Raising Your Spirited Child" and my two biggest A-ha moments were realising that I was an extreme introvert raising an extreme extrovert (ouch) and the section on the "Negative First Reaction". All three of mine do this to some extent, #1 and #3 very, very strongly. So for us some of our pushing is about getting over initial resistance to something I am SURE they will love, and I am usually right.
