Caleb's party

It seems these days that I am constantly having to assert my authority with Caleb. Tonight it was whether he should be allowed to climb up and over the end of his bunk bed to enter it, rather than up the very cool ladder/staircase it came with. Something tells me I should just give up on things like that.. if he falls, I guess he will learn. When I told him that if he couldn't enter it the right way, he might have to sleep on the floor and we would get rid of his bed, he said, "What you are saying is making me mad." Who has be been listening to, Dr. Phil?? After that, I just tried to avoid talking about it!

I have been working non-stop (between nursing and SLP working) on his CARS party. I really hope he appreciates it and doesn't throw a fit about the house being decorated and people coming over the day it gets here (i.e. last year). He SAYS that he will be happy to have them here. I think if I have him help me decorate, it will go better. I have already let him help me paint one of the cars for the race and some tires, but since he has already broken 2 paintbrushes and I am down to the last one I have, painting is off-limits for him now.

UPDATE: Caleb's party was a blast. We had a Racing sign-in where the kids brought their pit pass and got a driver's license and racing number (for their back -- their favorite number). Then they went "Fishing with Mater", got a tatoo at "Ramone's body art shop", and colored pictures to put on a pennant at the Cozy cone (our living rooms with orange tablecloths hung all around in a circle to simulate th inside of a parking cone). Then we headed outside for a tire roll (really, they rolled a real tire down the track... -- it was very dirty!), threw bean bags through a large inflatable tire, and had the big race, which was the hit of the party. It took some doing explaining the tag-team effect of the race to a group of pre-schoolers, but I had a lot of adult helpers. While the first kid on each team (we had 3 teams) raced, the other 3 kids had a "job" to do on the pit crew. They changed tires (swapped them with others that velcroed on), filled the car with gas (using a watering can), or washed the windshield (with a dry sponge/bucket). Each child got a "Piston Cup" trophy at the end. We also had themed snacks: stacks of chocolate donuts (monster truck tires), Oreos (whitewall tires), pretzel sticks (axles), M&Ms (paint chips), grape juice (motor oil), green Gatorade (antifreeze), apple juice (Dinoco gasoline), and water (Fillmore's Organic Fuel).