I think there should be a bloody support group for parents of 3 year olds

[Limelight]

It's like DS woke up a couple of months ago as a completely different person.

'Trying' incidents today:

1. Complete refusal to even consider wearing any clothes. I mean, would genuinely have been very happy if I'd agreed to send him to pre-school in the buff.

2. Running out into the road.

3. Massive screaming kicking throwing things level tantrum because I'd dared suggest we go out with his friends to a club he normally loves. Because the children are naughty and it's all soggy. Apparently. Needless to say we didn't go because by the time he'd calmed down it was too late. So he had another massive tantrum because he couldn't go.

4. Massive sulk because a kid he didn't know decided to play on the wrong slide. Apparently.

5. Complete refusal to eat the dinner he helped me make because it had (completely imaginary) green bits in it. I wouldn't mind except it's normally one of his favourites.

Now admittedly he's very recently had chicken pox and is still a little irritable but when I think about it, he's been like this for a few months. I also have a 10wo DD which isn't helping. He loves her but is not hugely happy with DH and I for changing his life.

Totally exhausted. Going for a bath and a lie down.

Oh I love it.
Makes you feel better to hear all the other many toddlers with their, 'I want that, no I don't want that, hey I wanted that!!' tantrums.
We had terrible the 1s, now going through extremely terrible random days in the 2's and will undoubtedly have more to come in the 3's.

So horribly normal it seems. Anyone else feel ten years older than they actually are??

We had a big tantrum yesterday, DH bought some gingerbread men and offered DS one on Wednesday, he said he didn't want it. In the meantime they got eaten. DS decided he wanted one. Cue tears and tantrums....

On the plus side he ate loads yesterday, polished off a round of cheese and ham sarnies for lunch and then salmon fish fingers, jacket wedges and baked beans, he even asked for more beans Plus several bananas, apples and a choc ice!!
He stayed up until 9pm though and still got up at 6.30am this morning though

mrshotrod god yes, just renewed my driving licence photo 10 more years plus 2 pre-schoolers equals a very haggard looking woman who didn't have the time to do hair or makeup properly and now I'm stuck with it for another 10 years.

Oh he has been one stroppy little man today!

We decided to eat our lunch outside as it was lovely and sunny.

Cue MASSIVE strop from DS because he didn't want his lunch. We left it on the table while DH, DSS and me ate ours, with DS lying on the ground screaming his head off.

Eventually we all finished, DS decided he did want his lunch but inside. So fine, I take it inside and he just messed about. DH was supposed to be taking both boys to the park before taking DSS back to his DMs. So in the end I put my foot down told DH to take DSS and DS would have to stay as he needed to eat his lunch. He did eat it eventually so I rang DH and we all met up at the park. I made it very clear that DS could have gone much earlier if he had eaten his lunch with us. I really hope this has got through to him

He is currently asleep on the floor in the living room, did a big poo on his potty and when I was disposing of it he lay down, with his pants around his ankles and fell asleep! I have tried moving him but he protested so have put his blanket over him and left him to it!

kara that's exactly what MIL used to with hubby apparently he was a stroppy pre-schooler (now I know where mine gets it from) and wouldn't eat and wouldn't go to bed so she used to leave him where he dropped for his sleeps during the day. She was telling me all about it on friday when dd had a meltdown over a drink and I suggested that she might like to go and have some quiet time maybe lie down, not a chance.

I can't believe I missed this thread. May I join? DS2 is 3.9 and is the most stroppy, impatient quick tempered little beast at the moment. Anything can set him off. It is a good job he is cute and funny in equal measures.

I also have DS1 who is a premature teenager at 4.11. DD1 is 2.2 and in full scale terrible 2 tantrums. Most days I want to put my head in the oven. .

mum22lb - I realised i missed an opportunity. I should have taken a picture of ds asleep with his pants down, so I could use it for bribery purposes when he is a teenager.
"DS - you WILL be back in the house before midnight or I will show this picture to your mates"

fantastic idea kara must remember to take that picture at the first opportunity I have. [cgrin]

goingdownhill do you still have all you hair, nails, marbles? I only have one stroppy three-nager and I feel like sticking my head in the oven most days.

Yesterday was the day from hell, when DH came in from work he saw my face and he took dd to the park again (we had already been once that day). by the time he came home 30 minutes later his face looked like mine - complete exasperation.

dh: did you enjoy the ride on the bike to the park?
dd: no
dh: but the park was fun
dd: no it wasn't
dh: shall we have tea now?
dd: no
dh: are you not hungry?
dd: yes
dh: well let's have tea
dd: no
repeat till you want to scream

She is at pre-school today! Peace.

This thread sounds so familiar. My little sod darling (who is my ds2) is 2.10 and has become a threenager early. Like several at the beginning of the thread he had chickenpox recently and its also made him much worse. He was potty trained in Nov but does not liked to be asked or told to go for a wee. He will not take himself for a wee though so we have frequent accidents.
I actually found myself saying to him yesterday: I'm just going for a wee before we get ds1 from school. You can't go for a wee. You must wait till later. I'm still in shock and I can't decide what I'm more shocked about: That I used reverse psychology to get him to go to the loo or that it worked.
Please don't let him get any worse when he hits 3 [sobbing emoticon] Ds1 wasn't like this

mum2twoloudbabies: I have days when I am certainly tearing my hair out or could cry with frustration if they are shrieking, whinging etc. I try and remind myself it was my choice to have them in such quick succession, so I can't really complain. We have recently moved back to the UK and to have such luxuries as soft plays and petting farms is bliss!.

I might consider moving out for a few years when they hit 13,14 and 15 though.

COming back to this thread to SCREAM ...Can't cope much longer my not yet 3 yr old is driving me insane ....and we are not even on school holidays

I am definitely joining this thread.

My 3 yr old today has persistently sat down on the pavement and refused to move, cue in the end having to actually put him over my shoulder as i have a six week old in the pushchair and a 5 yr old (who seems to be able to follow a simple instruction like "walk").

Yesterday he laid down on the floor in pizza hut and refused to move and fell asleep.

He ran out of the park today and all the way down the road.

Iended up sending him to bed at 5.30pm.

going to try and read up so i can learn that it is not just me.

and breathe.

I havent managed the whole thread, but suffice to say you ladies have cheered me up so much. Hilarious some of this.

Mixedmama!! You were on my Dec07 thread (I was BouncingTurtle back in those days), hope you are well!

DD has been truely shocking the last few days and her new trick seems to be going totally hysterical whenever I have to empty her potty.

DD: "noooooo mummy its my poo and I want to keep it, I want to take it to bed with me"

Then lies on floor screaming (usually with knickers still round ankles)

WTF

I thought getting her to go on toilet (not easy for her as she is hypermobile and bad at climbing etc) might help but no, now she kicks off when I go to flush loo instead

Today has been one of those days.

He has wee'd in his potty then poured it into a bucket to show me

climbed on my chest of drawers knocking an expensive bracelet down the back

Stood on the ledge in the bathroom to pee in the sink then rinsed it away with the tap

Got puzzles out then had a paddy because I wouldn't do them for him

Kept standing on the chair and getting down at lucnh then refusing the rest of his food. Only to scream that he wanted it back x 10

Tipping his drink over the floor/table

I could go on but it's blurred throughout the day. I hate days like this, I end up shouting and I hate that even more

Oh I am DREADING 3 now. My DS will be 3 in a few weeks. 2 has been bad enough. He has a vile temper and is very physically strong with it.

Hew bit two older boys (5 and 8) in the park yesterday and answered their furious parents with "Yes I bit boy. I shark."

...oh and the other day he somehow unscrewed a spinning top toy, took out the metal rod from the centre and smacked me hard across the face with it!

I took him to a cranio-sacral osteopath to see if his rages were because he was in pain. They rage on. Sometimes I think he is Damien from the Omen films.

kara starbuck _ i ended up with a jan 08 baby and flitted between the two. we sre well but as you can see by me being here he is a challenge.

pls can i join? must admit i am an intermittent Mnetter - simply bcos i am usually too exhausted to get on by the time i can actually get on..IYSWIM. but this thread is just what i need. I have a 3 1/2 yr old who is driving us nuts..i've not read whole thread so maybe someone else has the same issue but it is a bit odd i think!! she basically wants everything, i don't mean toys, things from tv adverts..i mean trees, cars, houses, a twig, a postbox, a lady in an orange cardy...anything and everything she sets eyes on ...is this just a tad odd??!!
so she whinges and wines and keeps saying ALL DAY long, "i want one of those mummy, get me one of those mummy, can you get that for me from the shops' CONSTANTLY. on top of this she is generally really whingey, even though she gets loads of sleep and in my opinion enough attention...probably too much. if we go out with other families/children she doesn't join in...at playgroup she just sits and observes and doesn't make friends, but at home she's running round and very lively and plays well sometimes. she's always been prone to huge tantrums which we tend to just ignore...and if she does somethingt really wrong that you just can't ignore she doesn't seem to get discipline, doesn't respond to the naughty step/room/shouting...even smacking :( anyway i have to go now as here she goes again..ggrrr..here's to another day of 'family fun'!! (we do have a 9mnth old too) any advice would be really welcome
thanks!

This thread makes me feel much betterabout my 2ds! Ds1 (4) can be a nightmare and I was thinking "what have I done wrong?" but maybe I just had my expectations set too high... Ds2 (2.7) is mostly very good but has recently developed a mischievous streak. When he is naughty it is very deliberate and he thinks it is hilarious. Not fun when he scratches me in the face leaving great gouges. I have just bought a book "the good behaviour book" by William sears. He is into attachment parenting which is how we brought them up as babies, but I really don't have a clue how to combine AP with discipline! Hopefully I will learn something when I read it!

driedapricots - I remember when my DS (now5) was 3 and he went totally hysperical (lying on floor screaming etc) because he had left his stick on a bus and another stick just would not do

DD (3) has been much better today, long may it last!!

Is this still going?
Ok I am joining then.
I was soooo smug thinking I'd missed the terrible twos!
In fairness DD [just turned 3 this month] has just gotten more shouty/stroppy, nothing like as bad as some of 'em on here, but I am watching her VERY closely.
She has started to lash out physically now, esp when tired or hungry so I try to make sure I'm out of reach.
She definitely knows her own mind - sadly this extends to being completely uninterested in potty training - even her nursery are stumped

Oh the potty trainign I could go on and bore you forever with this.

I am just looking in on this thread to give you sympathetic vibes. The good thing is that they will grow out of it, honestly. Mine were both shudderingly awful at three. They are now really quite lovely .