4 Going on 14?

Lately, we've been having some power struggles with our oldest daughter which seem much more appropriate for a child that would be 14, yet she is only 4. The other night she informed us that she was missing us and that she would be having a sleepover at her friend's house across the street. We told her that she was not old enough yet to be having sleepovers and we would let her when he was 5 or 6. Well, that was not soon enough and she wasn't going to listen to us...she packed her bag and told us that she was already missing us and a few minutes later we saw her at the neighbor's back door, then she disappeared inside. I ran over to talk to the friend's mom when she came outside and told the mom that she was missing her family (hello, I was standing right there...LOL!). Then, she and her friend went inside and came out with their pjs on. I looked inside her bag to find that she had packed a sippy cup, some underwear, and of course, so important, her camera. She really was set to have a great sleepover, too bad we had to eventually drag her home and back to reality. She was so upset, but I'm sure she'll have time for more sleepovers when she's a bit older. I just loved that she got everything ready by herself and was so determined to do what she wanted. I felt bad about cancelling her wonderful plans, but knew it was for the best of everyone involved.

The next event was that she was refusing to take a shower/bath for almost a week. Sunday she was told that she had to have one before Church, she refused so Curt had her sit in time out until she was ready. Well, for the hour before Church, she stayed and so we ended up just dressing her and going to Church, but informed her that she was back on the chair when we got home. So, we got home and guess what, she stayed on the chair for 2 more hours. I felt awful and wonder if I'm a horrible Mom, but after those 2 hours she decided on her own that she wanted to have a bath. So, for us, it worked. I just think it's ridiculous that she'd rather spend 3 hours in time out instead of being able to play, when in the end the bath was inevitable. Gotta love kids!