bare feet. Then he went upstairs and fell asleep. Whatever works, I guess. The General, who turns three next month, is making some of the biggest transitions this fall. His first day of preschool got off to a rocky start, in part because we made the amateurish mistake of forgetting to send his stuffed companion. He gave me the full report when I got home: "Nana dropped me off and I cried and cried." "But then Mommy brought my Bunny Uh-Oh. I had a snack, and I went to gym, and I played and played and played." Day 2 was less teary. But as part of his upgrade to big-boy status, we are also working on potty training. This is not going well. It is war, and we are not winning. It is not a matter of him not being interested or lacking the ability. He is passionately opposed to our efforts. He loathes the potty as a symbol of oppression. We've tried every trick in the book. I told him that boys who don't wear diapers can run faster and jump higher. I'm that desperate. He accepted this reasoning but advised me that he would go on the potty "later." The boy is messing with us. One day he walked up two flights of stairs just to do his business on his bedroom floor. His rationale? "So Mommy will put my diaper back on." My son is spite-peeing. Spite-peeing! This is not something anyone mentions in those happy picture