You want him to burp?  No.

Sleep through the night?  No.

Take a picture with Santa?  Nope.

Pee and poop on the potty?  No.

Talk to Lola on the phone, eat his vegetables, sit still so that the nice lady can cut his hair without chopping off an ear.....  uh-uh.

Naturally this predisposition to completely buck authority is down right frustrating for me and John.  In the beginning we did timeouts, which turned into threats, and when that didn't work we'd breakdown and start yelling.

However, Manny is the kind of kid that when faced with a combative authority figure, he completely shuts down.  If you wanted him to do something before you yelled at him, he definitely won't be doing it now.  In fact, you'll be lucky to even get him to speak to you.

Where am I going with this?  Trust me, I do have a point....

Manny had baseball practice this past Saturday.  To get the kids warmed up the coach has them play catch, either with a teammate or even their parent if one is present.  Manny was playing catch with John and John accidentally tagged him the chest with the ball.

Manny freaked out and started crying.  John was able to get him to calm down, but Manny didn't want to practice anymore.  In fact, he said he didn't even want to play baseball anymore.  Naturally John got frustrated, and that frustration turned into anger when he couldn't get Manny to practice with the team.  So Manny did the exact opposite of what John wanted, instead of running back out to the practice field, he completely shut down; no talking, no eye contact, no compromise.

Eventually he calmed down and started talking with John.  John apologized for getting angry and everything was right in the world.  That is the great thing about Manny.  Once he's done being mad or scared, all is forgiven.

When he got home he was in good spirits.  I asked him if he was ready for practice on Monday and he said that he was.  I think he'll be scared of the ball for a while, but hopefully he'll be able to overcome it.