Ds has just turned 3 and is the youngest in his class at nursery. He's always been quite challenging but I held onto the hope that all these were just phases. Far from calming down, he seems to be ramping up the problematic behaviour- but more erratically than he did before.
I had issues with him hitting a lot when out at soft play/playdates and crying that things were 'mine' all the time, even when we were in neutral places like the park. The incessant nature of this has relented but has been replaced by very strong likes and dislikes of other children and the hitting is still there, but usually kept for one or two children who he persistently has issues with.
One particular friend's son, in the same nursery class, is in some ways quite similar to him, but a little older, and although he doesn't hit or push as much, he does wind ds up. My friend's ds seems pretty clever and I don't think ds quite gets the 'way' he wants him to play. Ds doesn't have the ability yet to deal with this verbally (even though I coach him about what to say when things are not going his way) and his first reaction is to lash out when the other boy invades his space or says something to him which he doesn't like. Ds is very emotional and dh and I think he is possibly on the normalish end of the spectrum (although the select few people we have shared our thoughts with don't seem to think so)
On the flip side, there are a number of other boys who ds seems to really like and speaks about them favourably, and a lot. He would never hit them I'm convinced. There seems no rhyme nor reason to who he likes or dislikes as he often makes judgements about other children without ever having any real contact with them.
It's not as simple as trying to avoid this boy, he attends the same nursery every day, they live very close, my friend and I have dd2s who enjoy playing together and I do actually want to maintain this friendship.
Are all three year old this weird?