Anyone want to swap my 3 yr old DD?

[MadLenny]

Kidding really but she is driving me mad! She's been a great sleeper until recently and has now started waking 2 or 3 times a night, at first we put it down to her being unwell, then it was a bad dream but now I just think it's become a habit and have no idea how to put a stop to it. She's also waking much earlier than she used to (before 6 - which I know is not that early but is at least an hour earlier than prev)and just seems tired and grouchy all day. Despite doing really well with her toileting has gone back to having a couple of accidents a day, sooking her thumb like mad and become so clingy I can't even stand up withou her attached to my leg.She's also eating like a horse so we thought she might be going through a growth spurt but who knows.
And don't even get me started on the 'lil miss attitude' she's turned into.
Her favourite word is 'NO!'
I say black, she says white
The tears when things don't go her way
Refusing to do things she's asked
Responding to a question she doesn't want to answer by crossing her arms and quivering - don't ask me why, I have no idea!

Someone please just tell me this is kind of normal - thought the hard part was when they became teenagers? Oh God, we've still got that to come

Aww bless her- and you

Has it gone on long?
Last time DS did this he came out in Scarlet Fever a wek or so later, and the time before that it was chicken pox when we had about 2 weeks of horridness

3 is definitely an age of opionions tho isnt it?- Have you read Toddler Taming? Highly reccomened it

I can only say ds1 is almost 4 and we;ve had attitude since he was 3, pretty much as you describe, I can only say everyone warned me about the terrible 2's but not the tricky 3's - basically they are better at articulating the tantrums and are trying to push boundaries and work out emotions.

'fairy' dust around ds's bedroom (glitter - but took some hoovering! one of my less inspired solutions) to get rid of monsters, cured him in one night and we put a light on a timer switch so he could get out of bed once light came on, he would still wake early for a while but learned to stay in bed and seems to have grown out waking early now.

No idea if any of the above helps but mainly wanted to say you are not alone

My daughter is nearly 4 and has recently started doing this. She has a cold and a new baby brother and I put it down to these and just her age and at times my tiredness!!!

I'll swap for a few days - a change is as good as a rest as they say!

Just to let you know what you're in for:

Every morning it's "are we going to somebody's house today?" "no" "are we going to grandma's house?" "no" "are we going to auntie's house?" "no"....cue list of all friends and relatives.

Also she is constantly asking if we are poorly, are we all better now, do we need to make get well cards for me, DH, Grandma....etc?
We're not a family of hypochondriac Harry's or anything! She just has these weird fixations.

My voice has gone completely off her radar.
I mean she can't seem to register my normal speaking tone at all, just tunes me out when I ask her to do something (fairly normal I guess).

So to get around this, I have taken to speaking in a Shakespearean stage-voice, booming around the house in the manner of Brian Blessed.
This works a treat but the neighbours probably think I am seeing an out of work actor behind DH's back.

I know I'll get flamed for all this, yes I have a wonderful child and no real problems in the wider context of the world! But sometimes the little darling drives me to despair

pmsl arsesandoldlace - must try the Shakepearean stage voice, DD has also developed a remarkable deaf ear for mine!

You could try a groclock - we have one for our three year old - it has a moon for the night time and sun for the day time. You set the time for the sun to come up and then they are allowed to get up! It works for us at the moment.