Little bear is pushing boundaries

I am beginning to worry about little bear. He is showing signs of being completely exhausted, such as trying to get a nap before school. And he is behaving fair to middling appallingly. This is usually a sign that he is sickening for something.

To be honest, I suspect he is still suffering from the after effects of the chicken pox. I know I am being a fussy mummy, but he is soooo tired, too tired to get to sleep at night, sleeping later than average (6.50am today!) and generally not happy. Once upon a time it was a fortnight off school. Now it is five days, and I was pushing it keeping him off the Thursday and Friday after he was diagnosed. At the end of last week, after his first week back at school, he was completely exhausted. This week he seems just as bad, if not worse! Thank goodness he is off school next week.

Yesterday there were two memorable incidents. He had an ice lolly after martial arts (all over his suit - marvellous) and was nice and sticky. He got sticky over the computer desk. So I asked him to go and wash his hands. I think my words were something like, 'Okay now, sweetheart, go and wash your hands please and we can have a nice cuddle.' He refused to wash his hands.

Routinely I let things go, but to me this was just ridiculous. So I was firmer. I shouted. I escorted him to the stairs. I escorted him up the stairs, step by step, with him shouting furiously that he would never wash his hands, NOT EVER!!! Then he dashed into the bathroom and locked the door. He was not washing his hands and he was never coming out. He even ignored the lure of washing his hands in Grandad's sink.

Then he found an excuse that he didn't want to wash his hands because of a cut. So I got him to open the door, washed his hands with a new sponge and looked at how open the window was all of a sudden. I had had the window ajar, and it is never locked as it is the fire escape window, but now it was wide open. 'I had it open for some more fresh air.' Little bear said artlessly, 'Because I needed more fresh air so I opened the window. For fresh air.' He had opened the window planning to climb out and thought better of it! All this fuss about washing his hands.

The second incident, which to me was far more worrying, was during dinner. We had some very nice, natural smoked haddock, which little bear loves. 'I've got a bone,' little bear wails. I sigh because the fish was sold as boneless, but say, 'Never mind, just spit it out.' Little bear says, 'No!'

Little bear has his moments but normally does not refuse to spit something out that he doesn't want/like, and we couldn't let him swallow a fish bone! To be honest, it was probably just a tiny bit of hard skin from smoking, as it was lovely fish and well prepared. However I could now cry. Little bear has been really enjoying his fish, and now he is saying that he will never have fish again because of bones, and I worry that because he got himself so worked up and stressed, he won't touch one of the few healthy options he would genuinely tuck into. By the time we had managed to get him to spit out the offending piece he was almost hysterical.

This sort of awkward, irrational defiance usually means little bear is about to have something really, dreadfully gruesome. I am hoping I am wrong and it's just the embers of the chickenpox virus.

As I type he is stretched on the sofa, making the sort of little grunts that usually mean that a nap would be a possibility, and we are about to get him ready for school! He is five now, not two or three when naps were a good thing.

It's a 'normal for five, but mums worry' situation, I suppose. I am sure he will be far too active for me to keep up soon. I wonder if I will ever stop worrying.