...to say Christmas with a toddler is bloody nightmare?

[BusyCee]

He's a whiny bastard.

He wakes up at 530am.

He shouts. All the sodding time.

He has no impulse control.

He can spill liquid even when he's nowhere near it.

He repeats himself. Constantly. And needs a response from me each time.

He shoves DS1 about. He's ham fisted with baby DD.

He infuriates me and I love him.

YANBU
I'm dreading trying to keep mine under control at my grandparents on christmas- ornaments everywhere, a fire place, chocolates on the coffee table and a lot of people with grown up children who have magically forgotten how hard toddlers can be.

I was going to say you're wrong it's great but then saw you have three and the toddlers the middle one!!!
Sounds tough.

Xmas with one toddler is fab :)

I feel your pain. I have a 7 yo, one that turned 2 less than a week ago and a 20 week old.
Middle one is DD. Her nickname is demon.

Demon! Love it

I say all this with a smile, obvs. Each year with children is different and unique and full of wonder. And shit. And shouting. And horror. And gin...

My DD was panicking last year because she would have a new born last Christmas, it was a doddle compared to a already mobile and tantruming 1 year old.

Shes a delightful Devil.

My toddler started puking dreadfully at six o'clock yesterday evening. Now I'm behind on my wrapping up and I'm hosting a family get-together today.

I caught ds in the cat food yesterday, so it's self-inflicted. Also he's decided to strip the tree this week, after leaving it alone for a fortnight. He's cute though so he gets away with it. Sigh.

My tree is bare at the bottom
She hasn't eaten cat food yet though.
And luckily my mum does Christmas dinner, so I just have to wrap the mountain of crap!

My toddler had been surprisingly wonderful. Not touched any decorations, had helped me around the house and had been really well behaved and humoured me by snuggling up and watching Xmas films. Then she goes and ruins by throwing her first ever tantrum in the middle of Asda. Everyone was staring, she was absolutely hysterical and because it was her first one I didn't know what to do and I just burst into tears. Felt like a right tit.

Dinobab Agree about family forgetting what toddlers are like and adding to the stress.(Though ILs have started attempting to stop tantrums by reasoning with DS - which will be amusing to watch as 3 year olds aren't known for their logic...)

Umbongo that was carefully planned. You were lulled into a false sense of security and then just when you were least expecting it and in the worst place, you had the full performance.

I feel your pain. I have twin toddler boys!

Nope definitely not U. I've got a 5yo, 4yo, 2yo & 6 month old (who has decided sleep is for the weak). School managed to wind them all up to high heaven & I've only managed to calm down slightly. Thankfully DF (who will become H on 4th Jan) is home as of today to help

YANBU.

Mine are a bit older now but I well remember the feeling of trepidation I had taking them to relatives houses at Christmas. It's that you need to be vigilant ALL THE TIME. With a baby you can pass them around to adoring relatives, an older child will sit and watch TV or play on the iPad. But a toddler requires constant supervision and it's particularly exhausting in an unfamiliar house b

I have 2 of them and a puppy this year ...

People can visit us as we are refusing to leave our house . I can't even guarantee that they'll be wearing clothes . Dd is potty training and ds's new favourite thing is to take off his nappy and run around laughing .

They haven't killed my spirit though I'm still very much looking forward to tomorrow

Bizarrely, I've preferred Christmas the older the children have become. Less intense, less pressure.

I found the toddler stage terribly hard in general though. The newborn phase was easier than I anticipated, but the toddler phase was a bit stressful and miserable tbh.

Last year on Christmas day I found my toddler niece and nephew in the bath fully clothed with the tap running - they were literally out of sight for 2 minutes

YANBU. I have a 2 year old and a 6 month old. 2 year old is over excited, over tired, over everything. Can't bloody wait til it's over and she calms down again!

Yanbu. DD is already exhibiting behaviour that would suggest she's totally knackered and it's all too much excitement. There's no way we are going to fit in opening her presents before going to PIL tomorrow, I'm already thinking we should save most of them for Boxing Day. DH is ill, I'm stressing about dd2 getting enough sleep tomorrow... It's like holidays with littlies, just not worth the hassle!

Yanbu.
I have 3 under 4 and they're all pants today.

YANBU. It's shite. I feel like I'm doing everything wrong all the time. Doesn't help that 'D'H is being a miserable useless fuck either.

I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old, I feel your pain. The Christmas decorations are slowly moving up the tree.

I love and loathe the toddler phase in almost equal measure.

But generally I loathe it more than love it.

Small babies, and preschool to upper junior aged children, are an absolute bloody dream compared to the whirlwind of hell that is the average toddler.

Sympathies op. They are all that lethal combination of 'highly overexcited and massively overtired' by this stage of proceedings!

trilbydoll we have often opened presents over several days as toddlers generally want to play with the thing they have just opened. It also limits the excitement a little.