What is your 2-3 yr old like ?

[anappleandtwentysevenbisuits]

My DS is 2.5 and I find him so incredibly challenging. All my friends with children similar ages work, whilst I'm a SAHM. So I don't know if it's literally that I'm with him so much, that it's getting to me more, but the weekends are worst. I look forward to having some help and company, but DS won't let His Dad do anything with him. He tries to push him away or out of the room or just calls for me constantly. Plus he is a terrible sleeper a max of 8 hours a night.

He does however have a great imagination and plays with his vehicle fires, crashes.

Tell me about your 2- 3 year old?

My dd is coming up to 2.5. She's gorgeous, clever, stubborn, sneaky and absolutely full of energy.

Most things aren't a problem as long as she thinks she's getting her own way. Our main issue is food. Incredibly fussy eater, very reluctant to try new things. I'm resisting the urge to tear my hair out and trying not to pressure her, I know we'll get there.

I'm also a sahm and some days are just hard. Dd doesn't ever want to entertain herself and wants to be involved in whatever I'm doing which takes a lot of energy. Fortunately she is a good sleeper which probably helps me cope.

Everything with my 2.10 year old DD seems like a challenge. All a battle of wills, probably not helped by the fact that we are so similar personality wise! She is and always has been a fussy eater. So that’s always been a headache although has improved slightly. Other things she won’t do - that other people don’t seem to have a problem with!!: brush her teeth, have her hair brushed, have hair clips put in her hair even when it’s in her eyes, have her hair cut or washed, potty train, get in the buggy, have her nappy changed, get dressed, drink milk from anything other than a baby bottle. Everything is a battle!!!

But: she is very verbal, funny, chatty, physically incredibly agile, smart, and can be really kind and sweet and gentle, if she sees you’re upset for example.

So all in all, a total mixed bag but generally I’d say a toddler being a toddler and pushing every boundary she can! My problem is I have no idea how to resolve lots of these things... 😬

Hi, my DS is 2.6 years old and everyday is a battle, I might get one day a week where he is happy most of the day but all other days he cries, whines and tantrums. Like others have said if he was allowed to do whatever he wanted and have whatever he wanted he would probably be happy but obviously that's not an option 😂 he has become very fussy with food but we just offer healthy meals and try our best. I'm a SAHM too so I defo get days where hiding in a cupboard is very tempting. I'm just praying once communication gets easier the behaviour will get better too. Good luck x

I just keep telling myself that the wilfulness is a sign of genius although no other extraordinary signs here yet

On Saturday we went to a well know chain restaurant for lunch with MIL, her idea. Opposite to is two girls about 3 yrs and 18 months/2 yrs , perfect behaviour sitting opposite their parents, eating bits of cut up food. The youngest couldn't really see over the table but happily helping herself. Doing colouring and they didn't get down once. My DS escaped about 3 times, didn't eat anything, after one solitary scribble of colouring. He moved about so much I had to resort to whispers letting him watch my phone. So then he wouldn't talk to MIL.

@BumboBaggins I don't want to give away my only parenting secret, but I can only get DS in the buggy if I let him watch my phone. You seeing a theme here.

Teeth brushing I don't know either. I can honestly say that telling them they will get cavities and all their teeth will fall out doesn't work

Oh the thing about the restaurant did make me laugh anapple. I feel your pain! I have conversations with people and they casually drop in that they went to x place for Sunday lunch with the kids or whatever. I’m like HOW???? HOW do you do that??? (Answer: because their kids clearly sit down nicely and eat their sodding food like the ones you describe). Meanwhile my daughter will eat 3 chips and then be bored and climbing the furniture! And throw the offered colouring pencils in the floor 🙄 Nothing wrong with a bit of phone time.... We all know we couldn’t actually function as parents without it 😆 (Are there real life sanctimonious people that frown on this? Oh la la, they want to come and spend 24 hours in my house and just count the contraventions of the parenting manual. They wouldn’t know where to begin haha!)

I had a song for teeth brushing, lyrics written by myself to the theme song of a kids TV show that was on TV at the time (6-7 years ago when ds was a toddler). I thought I was a genius and trotted it out smugly for dd. IT DOES NOT WORK. She will only let me brush hers at the same time as her so she has 2 tiny identical tooth brushes it's a total farce.

Haha I'm guilty as anything when it comes to phone time, if it lets me poop in peace then who cares. Last summer at an air show DS was having a meltdown and nothing I could do would calm him (cue everyone staring and whispering) so I finally relented and have him my phone (cue everyone staring and whispering) I just gave a sickly smile and enjoyed the peace and quiet

My DS, 2.4aft

• hardly talks - speaking is just not on his agenda yet but if walking is anything to go by he will go 0 to 100 in a week
• excellent fine motor skills - he can do stuff his five year old brother can't
• total potty refuser - that'll be fun and games
• excellent eater - no signs of fussiness yet, stank of fish after nursery today after having tripple helpings of a fish-based lunch at nursery.
• loves fish in particular, with salmon at the top
• will climb kitchen surfaces to get the sweet / toy that I've just hidden in the kitchen cupboards
• has just learned the art of unbuckling himself from his car set - imagine my surprise when, on the way to nursery, he suddenly stood behind me.
• one failed attempt at the cotbed later we are bet in the cot (20+ nighttime appearances at my bed....)

That about sums it up....

My DS turned 3 end of December, and I would say since about 2.6-2.8, he has been very challenging at times! He's clever, has had excellent speech since early on, but he can be very stroppy/emotional/unreasonable.

He can be really mean with his words, especially to me at the moment (eg go away mummy, mummy sit on the floor instead of at the table!). I'm heavily pregnant and his challenging behaviour coincided around the time my first trimester started, but it could well be a coincidence as he ticks all of the "threenager" boxes. Like the other children mentioned upthread, he wants his own way!

He can be very sweet though and I think deep down he is still a lovely sweet boy (up until this phase, he was a dream child!). He's learning, pushing boundaries, and unable to control all of his impulses. I try and remind myself of that when he's on the naughty step for the third time in a row for being nasty or doing something we've asked him not to!

My DS is clever. He has excellent communication skills and his cognitive skills are on par too. However his legs seem to catch people's attention quickly. They notice the toddler who is using a wheelchair to navigate the supermarket rather than walking or running.

I do t have A 3 year old however our neighbors son is 3 and he's awful. Absolute bully to my 17 month old. As soon as he sees us going out in the front garden he starts yelling at my son. Today my son was playing with his toys while sitting on the floor and he came into our side of the garden and kicked my son in the head. And at the same time yelled out "go away." I was furious. My son has a red bump on his head now. I told his mom and his mom yelled at him. The boy cried but an hour later he started throwing things at my ds over the fence to try to hurt him. He's a nightmare. He's absolutely rotten spoiled. Walks around with a bottle in his mouth all day and his iPad glued to his face. Doesn't like anyone saying anything to him. Tells evryone to fuck off and spits at anyone who says hi. The other day I said good morning to him and he threw a toy at me and called me a dick head then spat at me. His moms response is "stop it!" And then he continues to try to hit his mom. 😒😒😒😒

My ds is 2.10. I am a sahm and he has never been away from me for long but will be starting pre school for a couple of hours soon. He is quite clingy and shy with other children and adults but in the last month he has started to gain in confidence and will now play away from me at playgroups for long periods and is starting to initiate play with other children. He now asks to go and see the children of my friends whereas a month or so ago he wasn't interested. He can be rough with his little sister and smaller children but is starting to grow out of pushing and hitting which peaked at about 2.5. He has just started to use personal pronouns and his speech is now very good (he wasn't speaking at all at 2). He still has a tantrum at least once a day but usually these are worse when he's tired. His sleep is still fairly bad, he will wake every night at around 4/5am and come into our bed. We have given up trying to settle him in his and we all sleep better now as a result.