Pushing Back

N's been challenging me a bit today. He's done so well the past few weeks at eating when he is hungry. It still generally has to be my fault -- he'll just throw in a "do I have to?" He knows what I'll say. Sometimes he asks twice, but he always eats. One or twice, he has even eaten without asking. This afternoon, however, he told me he was hungry. I told him to eat. He asked if I was going to "make" him or punish him if he didn't. When I replied, "no," he came back with, "then I'm not going to eat anything." Why the need to push back all of a sudden? I've heard a bit more of the "I'm fat" dialogue lately. I get so spoiled with his forward progress. It's always an abrupt awakening when he takes that one step back.