I am happy to report that with a slight bedtime adjustment, DD3.5 appears to be getting better. Her strong-willed nature was mixing with an incredible lack of sleep (getting up at 5:30am, refusing naps, etc) which turned her into some kind of monster child. She was so tired all the time that we were putting her to bed early, around 7pm, usually as a punishment for not behaving well (from being tired). So we actually moved her bedtime back to 8pm and she's been sleeping in a half hour more.
Then I took her to the park Tuesday morning so she could run herself into exhaustion. For the first time in a week or so, she took a nap! She even took a nap the following day without challenging me.
She's still a strong-willed stinker, but it's so much easier to handle when she's not so incredibly exhausted. My mother tries to offer up advice, then finally realizes than neither one of her children were as stubborn as mine. Lucky me.
