dilemma

long rant ahead! need advice.

God has blessed me with the most free spirited, funny, daredevil, emotional, deviant, loving girl i could have even imagined. today is such a perfect example of who she is.

we had a staff meeting today where we were ending our staff ping pong tournament. one of the weekday teachers was in the finals so the older kids came up to watch.

bug was sitting with me on the front row watching the game. various background music was being played during the games. party in the usa came on. well for those of you who do not yet know this, my bug is already obsessed with miley cyrus. she LOVES that song. so she looked at me and i set her down thinking she would dance a little in front of the chair. i should have known better.

she immediatly went into about 4-5 back to back summersaults that ended right at the ping pong table. no care at all to the game that was going on. i was laughing so hard i was crying! i moved her over to the side of the room away from the game and her buddy luke came over to dance with her. finally the music went off (which is a good thing!!!) and we sat back down. the entire rest of the game she asked me for that song again so she could dance.

when the game was over her class had to leave and she cried the entire way out bc she wanted to dance!

so i tell you all that to give you insight into my child. she is crazy, fearless, wants to be the center of attention, most things are all about her. for the most part i love this about her. but it has started to manifest itself into a disipline problem.

all of those things i love about her are also driving me crazy when it comes to listening and being obeidient.

we had a bad day yesterday. after school she wanted a candy. i told her 2 candies or no candies. she tried to sneak three! we went to meet a friend after work and she wanted to take her shirt off and i told her shirt on or we leave. she then tried to get up and run around so i told her sit down and eat or we will no play with our friends.

then the clincher. we went to the grocery store last night and at first it was cute with her "talking" on her "phone" (my credit card up to her ear) telling grandma that we were not going to go to the park bc mommy wasnt listening. at first it was cute and i also though, hum well at least she hears me!

well then when it came time to actually act on something i said she ws extremely defiant. she had taken some pull ups off the shelf and i told her to put them back. she said no. i said yes. she said dont tell me no mommy. i gave her another chance and then i pulled her pants down in the store and spanked her right on her bare butt.

so my question to you moms is what the heck would you have done? i have always been a parent that did not want to spank, i do not want to count to 3. i want to redirect behavior and take opportunities like that for teaching and learning. but with her on purpose definace and disrespect i am not sure what else to do.

i have the kind of child that was once referred to in a book i am reading about a little girl whose mom told her not to past that fence or she would get spanked and she told her mom, well you better spank me because i am going. thats how bug is. God made her this way and i love it about her. but she cant be disrespectful like this.

what is a good balance!!??