DS is 2.5, his older sister is 6. I love him to bits and he’s really a very sweet little boy but the terrible 2s have hit and I’m really really struggling.
He doesn’t want to do ANYTHING in a way that is relaxing or manageable for me. Every activity is fraught with stress, he never ‘plays’ he just runs around the house destroying things and being a danger to himself by for example trying to run down the stairs. I have to relentlessly tailgate him and intercept to a degree the hyper awareness is making me feel ill, my heart is constantly racing and it must skip beats at least 10 times as a day as we have a ‘near miss’.
Even our very patient dog who is used to toddler nonsense as we got her before our eldest was born, is getting fed up of constantly being grabbed and pulled.
I just took them to a Christmas fair a 5 minute walk away. As usual he didn’t want to get in the buggy, thrashing and screaming. So I let him walk but he spent the entire journey screaming to be picked up, throwing himself to the ground in the rain including when crossing the road. This happens all the time and it’s just so stressful. I’m very slight, he’s quite tall and heavy and carrying him everywhere just isn’t an option.
On the way home he ran and tried to jump into a very deep puddle on the roadside despite wearing his trainers. I told him not to jump as he hates getting wet feet and I know this would cause yet another tantrum/refusal to walk. He ignored me and jumped into another, soaking his feet. I lost my patience, grabbed his arm yanked him out of it, causing him (and me) to burst into tears.
He makes me feel like such a shitty mother but I’m constantly on edge and I feel like I’m burning out. Right now we are sat in the lounge and despite setting up a small table with stickers and crayons, a toy chest and offering to read him a story etc, he’s running up and down the hallway slamming the door and trying to turn on the downstairs toilet taps (he leaves them running all the time).
His older sister was a typical toddler but nothing like this. It’s draining me. To pre empt some questions he has excellent speech and often communicates his wants and needs, he sleeps very well (every cloud) and goes to nursery 2 days a week where they have no real concerns but they’ve noted he doesn’t listen sometimes.
Is anyone else going through this? I suspect there’s not much to be done but ride it out but it’s good to vent.