D.H.
I'm not an expert but my daughter, who is very smart and normally a sweet angel, went through the same thing. Your daughter is just now learning she is indepentant is testing her boundaries. How are you going to respond to me saying "no." I found that firm clear discipline worked best. We don't not use violance like spanking on our children. We use the calm down chair. She has to apologize for her behavior before she's allowed to leave the chair. We use a lot of Supernanny thenics. She gets a warning then put in the chair, etc. etc. It took about two weeks of unpleasant fits but she now knows if we say "If you do that/say that again you are going to the calm down chair" we mean it. There isn't a doubt in her mind that we won't follow through even if it means we miss something or are late. I guess what I'm trying to say is she's normal. Expect a week to three weeks of the changed behavior. Just make your rules clear and consistant. And another rule of thumb I live by is unless we are going somewhere important that's a "have to" (doctor's office, to pick up Nanna, lessons she's in) and it doesn't involve her health or mental or physical well being it can be compromised on.
