There was a little girl, a really lovely girl, who most of the time was a poppet. Mostly she was good, she was very, very good. But when she had her friends round she was

[Slubberdegullion]

a stroppy, ghastly, bolshy, raging, stamping, spiteful mean, wilful and horrid little madam.

Someone do the breathing and counting to ten with me please.

Apologies for the word poppet. Not an acceptable mn word I know, but in my current crispy with crossness state was unable to think of anything else to rhyme with horrid.

oh dear, how old?

Focus on your dishwasher, and 1 2 3..... It will all be ok again soon....

4 going on, oh I don't know who behaves like this? probably 4 year olds I guess.

Dishwasher door still broken. Kitchen broken. Music box broken,. Play tiara broken. Babushka doll broken. Glue top missing. Pom poms strewn. Shoe cupboard raided. Shoes sat on and mishapen. Christmas presents found. Bedrooms trashed. Pizza on floor. Pudding rejected.

humph

You need a Matilda the Maintenance Robot.

Christmas presents found?

You have got christmas presents already?

yes I do

everything is broken (hyperbole)

How did all this happen?

Oh dear, you were mumsnetting, werent you?

Good to know it is just a 4yo thing. My DS is like this, I thought it was cause he is a boy

MmeLindt I had got them the playmobil advent calenders (on advisememnt that they sell out) plus aeroplane (super bobby bargain) plus some books (bargains).

All well hidden in out of bounds zone (shoe cupboard) in out of bounds play date room (my bedroom).

I guess this is the learning curve that DC will go to out of bounds places.
[fool emoticon]

QS I was not

I was entertaining friend's mother downstairs with tea and witty parlance.

I took my eye off the ball and did not register the silence.

DANGER DANGER

Lol are you sure that's not my daughter you're talking about there? She's exactly the same, given the chance. Roll on school I say

Elkat.......2 weeks and counting..........

At least dh is currently witnessing the tail end of todays behaviour. Normally he walks through the door and she readjusts her halo.

how many children were there responsible?

4 children (5,4, 4 & 3). They are all culpable for the wanton destruction (which I kind of take as par for the course when children come to play).

however

I specifically told dd1 that she could not have this pom pom glue set to play with today (cue large thrashing tantrum) and put it away out of reach. She retrieved it knowing full well I had said no.

She knows that my bedroom is out of bounds for playing in.

Throwing, spitting, grabbing and general rudeness at meal times is not on.

Today has not been one of our best days.

Slubber - have just had three consecutive similarly NIGHTMAREISH days! Dd is 3.8. We've had snatching, hitting, outright defiance whenever I've asked her to do something and today encouraging her friend to put toys in the kitchen bin then telling on her!

I too cannot wait for term to start when no doubt she will be described as "a delight" and "a joy to have around".

[I despair emoticon]

DS1 (also 4, also starting school in few weeks) has been the same.
Laughing when told off, running round like a lunatic, hitting brother etc etc
Perhaps they are letting off steam before they enter "the establishment".

Oh well it's good to hear that mine is not the only 4 year old with some sort of split personality disorder (just "lovely" to everyone else and a little bugger with me).

I wonder if the looming school thing might be part of it. And just being 4.

Oh dear.
Some consoling comparisons for you:
After several weeks of bedtime tantrums and refusing to sleep in her lovely new bed in lovely pink room, I shifted DD's bed through 90 degrees tonight and she climbed straight in and went to sleep. WTF?
The other week, DD & playmate (both 4)smeared themselves with my Kiehls nail cream
Playmate ferretted in bathroom and sliced finger open with my pretty pink razor, then loudly refused all offers first aid. Cue her granny arriving just in time to witness scene from Carrie.

Roll on school, I agree.

And on top of your Jennifer Saunders looky-likey haircut? You need some (((((())))))))))

Its 9.07am and DD has had her first tantrum already. Its sooo not going to be a good day

You need to do what I have done - find lovely neighbour around the age of 16, pocket them a tenner and let them take wonderful DD1 to the local playcentre for 2 hours whilst I mumsnet clean the house! Voila!

Well so far dd1 has remained in human form, however we have a looming appointment at the hairdressers and as yet there is no agreeement on length of hair

hmm

Chippy, oh no to Keihls hand cream. Is that what we bought in Selfridges together? [fond memory]

pgwithno3 that would be lovely but the village seems to be teenager free atm

Elkat, oh dear [Force be with You type vibes]

[sigh] this will be my life in 2 years time. It will be my come-uppance for having a DS who, annoying though he may often occasionally be in other ways, adheres to rules to the point of OCD (we had tears when he read through the beavers info and realised they had to promise to be 'kind & helpful' - "Mummy, I can't do Beavers, cos I am not always helpful" ).

DD (22mths) can and does already reject the first 3 choices of clothes/pyjamas/breakfast and sees no reason why the fact that you screamed at Mummy that you didn't want your shoes on 30 seconds ago is any reason not to scream now because you do want your shoes on. Requests such as "say sorry to your brother for hitting/kicking him" are met with a blank "no" - and yet she can produce the angelic smile at will....
rules are not going to have any impact on her.

How long do you think I can rely on DS to police her and let me know what evil she is up to?

Oh stealthy, your ds sounds fab. I love his concern over the beaver promise.

In my(limited) experience there seems to be no way of predicting future behaviour. dd1 was not an easy baby...and then we breesed through the terrible two's. Now she is delightful or horrid and swings between the two with no rhyme or reason.

How did the length-of-hair discussion go, Slubber - have ACAS been called in yet?

lol dd got her way to keep it long. I'm trying to pick my battles and hair length was one I chose to let go.

I bet there will be a new spittle flecked thread in 3 months time with me raging over incessant hairbrushing battles with dd1.