busy, fun times and stress

hi all- i need to add some pictures soon...i have been slack. We are going to visit a developmental pediatrician and then back to the orthos tomorrow for casting. Sam is doing well, for the most part, and has really fallen in love wioth his brother Gabriel. However, Gabe is not returning the affection and basically finds Sam to be the "devil"- as he put it in his diary, but a "little boy who is also funny and does funny things"- so we have some reltaionship building to do. Sam is a rough-houser, he wants Gabe to run and be rough and tumble with him, and wrestle....Gabe is the quiet book reader and video gamer....so it has been quite a game of opposites. They both love the water, but no swimming due to Sams casts- so the one thing they have had in common will be out on hold until after Jan. Our gym has an inside pool, so it would have been great to go swimming any time....this also discounts the Great Wolf Lodge trip we wanted to do in December...ho-hum, unless the doctors can let us go cast-free for a week....surgery will still happen in January I hope. I had hoped for it to be sooner, like next month....so we can get this all over and done with. He has done the casting on and off for over a year or more in Ethiopia,(yet these were kind of ineffective b/c they didnt have adequate braces)....i just am not seeing the relavence in it now. Sam is also not eating as well as he was....he doesnt seem to have an appetite at all and will nto try many new things, that is very unlike him. He will eat the things he has come to love but not much else- so i cant complain too much. We are going to eat Ethiopian food this Saturday- just John, Sam and I- a late "happyEthiopian new year" dinner in Charlotte- so we will see how he reacts to that, since its been over 3 weeks since he has had Ethiopian food. I am having a hard time, internally, having to say No and limit him when he starts to do something that he shouldnt. He has gotten quite cocky and will just give you a look then doo it anyway (like try and pull the cords on the blind, or lick the tv or hit the dog ) His tantrums areon a super short fuse and even the slightest No or redirection sets him off...but they arent screaming and loud, and they are super short lived- so they are like "mini-tantrums"- but they are frequent, and i believe much of the "crying" is the fake type, for attention. I have seen his real fear/crying and it is nothing like this toddler-mini-tantrum crying he pulls out all the time. So it just seems his reaction to redirection. However, I am worried about how he will bein preschool next month . I wanna have a strategy beforehand.