37weeks pg and 3yo being really hard work

[Bananapancakes6]

Just wanted to check that this was a thing...

I'm 37 weeks so baby should be here soon. Our other son is 3y9m, he is very excited about getting a baby brother and only ever talks about it positively. We deliberately do not speak about the baby to him, we wait for him to bring it up so not to overwhelm him - he brings it up often usually saying things like "I will teach the baby to eat yoghurt" etc.

Obviously I do have a visible (humungous) bump and I can't do things I used to with him like run around in parks and chuck him about in play. He seems to realise this and will usually not ask for me to pick him up and he will offer me a cushion if we are sitting on the floor to play a game etc.

Lately, I think he has been testing me - he will refuse to pick something up that he has dropped, instead asking me knowing full well its difficult for me to bend. He will also refuse to go upstairs and fetch a toy he needs, whereas he used to do this happily.

He has also become fussy about clothes almost overnight. He refuses random items of clothing he has never had a problem with before and makes a big song and dance about picking his pants and socks in the morning. A couple of weeks ago he was happy in whatever I put on him.

I don't know if its a control issue, or a sudden realisation that things are about to change. Did anyone else experience this before a new sibling came along?

My DS is a similar age and there's lots of defiance and him trying to take control over things that he would just do normally, like not taking his plate back to the kitchen. I thought it was just another joy of the threenager!

Have you got any books to read to him about the baby? We had a lovely book that we used to read whenever he asked to and a big one that helped us was to try to prep him for the reality of a baby that way he wasn't surprised when she did nothing but sleep, poo and cry!

Lately, I think he has been testing me - he will refuse to pick something up that he has dropped, instead asking me knowing full well its difficult for me to bend. He will also refuse to go upstairs and fetch a toy he needs, whereas he used to do this happily.

I'm 41w and have a 3.5yr old. She started doing this a couple of months ago. I refuse though because I have PGP and getting up and down/going up and down stairs etc causes pain. I explain that to her, not sure if she understands or not though but she did mostly get the message after a few tantrums. She still does it sometimes but not as much and when I say no she will mostly just go 'ok then I will' and get it herself, as she knows that's the only way to get what she wants. Sounds normal to me.

Defiance about clothes - she does this a lot too but she always has done to be honest so that's not really new here. She's always been ahem 'spirited' anyway.

Thanks to both of you, your responses made me feel better.

Today has been an awful day with a fight at every corner and once I put him to bed I just cried! Honestly he is usually pretty placid so this has come out of nowhere.

Quite early on we bought him books about having a new brother / baby in the house and we read them to him regularly. Today he even asked me when it would be November because he wants to see the baby.