Is he a psychopath..or is he just being 3?

That has been the burning question around these parts the past couple days. Just when I was congratulating myself on surviving Sawyer's second year, even going so far as telling people that 3 has been so much more delightful, my darling boy has had a series of transgressions that leave me wondering if he's too young for electroshock therapy.

A few highlights:

1) Clocking his sister in the head. She proceeded to bawl, and when I pointed out to Sawyer that he hurt her, he stared at her like she was a science project. No remorse.

2) After a morning at the aquarium during which he was a perfect child, he decided he didn't want to take his nap. Instead, he arrived at the top of the stairs and announced he did poopy and peepee - in his pants. After cleaning him up in the downstairs bathroom, I ran upstairs to grab him a clean pair of underwear - only to find he had used the 10-gallon aquarium in his room as a repository for paper, toy cars and glow-in-the-dark dinosaurs. The three fish that we've managed to keep alive for the past few weeks were not amused. Nor was I.

3) I interrogated him with compelling questions such as "why did you put stuff in your aquarium?" just so I could hear equally compelling testimony such as "Because I did. He dared to smile. There was not a single tear shed. By him, anyway.

4) I decided he was not going to nap (and I really didn't want him in his room)so I put him in timeout at the bottom of the stairs. He then stood up and ran into the bathroom and closed the door. David arrived home, and I sent him into the bathroom, where he found Sawyer dipping a full roll of toilet paper into the radiation-blue, chemical-filled toilet water.

5) He somehow survived the rest of the day. He fell asleep in our bed for an hour or so, had dinner and finally, at 9, he was in bed. He was not allowed to have any of his "friends", which include two stuffed sharks, a dolphin and Shamu. I checked on him at 9:30, and he was still awake. In fact, he'd been busy - PUTTING CRAYONS AND MORE CARS INTO THE AQUARIUM!!!

No amount of yelling, taking things away or prolonged time-outs make a dent in this kid. He simply does not care. Couple that with no impluse control, and you either have a psychopath in the making, or an adorable 3 year-old boy..