My DD is 2.6yo and has generally been a really good toddler but as of the last few weeks has turned into a bit of a horror. She purposefully refuses to do things which I'm assuming is a development phase?
I'm starting to find it really hard. Every meal time is a battle, she refuses to eat at the table, refuses to eat food she likes (beans, fish fingers, even pizza bread) and demands snacks or sweet things. I've tried being more relaxed about meals, tried telling her to wait until the next meal to eat, eating together as a family even though it can be difficult with work schedules. Despite all this she'll ask for something specific for a meal and then refuse to eat it as if I am making her and have an all out tantrums because of what I've made her. She'll complain about being hungry and then not eat what she's asked for all the time. She'll say she's hungry when she wakes in the morning but has a meltdown at the mention of breakfast.
If I ask her to do a simple task like let me put her shoes on she refuses and demands to stay indoors. She fights getting dressed in the morning but won't even try to do it herself. The list goes on, it just feels like everything is a fight and I am so so tired and ground down by it all.
Please can someone tell me this is a phase and will pass soon or give me some advice to survive it?! It just feels like she's had a personality transplant and I miss my happy easy going LO (as much as toddlers can be).