My 3.5 yo is a boisterous and happy boy but I think he is going through some big emotions and I’m feeling a bit lost! Long post sorry!
He met some of the big milestones later than his peers: crawling at 10 months, walking a 16 months, at 2.5 years he was just saying a few random words, left the dummy late, etc However, in each of these examples, he went to zero from 100. Once the new skill is unlocked, he caught up with others very quickly and transitions happened easily.
We have been trying to potty train him for a while now, but I confess that I assumed it was going to be one of those cases where one day it just “clicked” so we were more relaxed than we should. We have no doubts that he is ready but lately he just refuses to use the potty/toilet and just screams for a nappy. When I talk to him about using the potty, he recently started to say things like “I’m a baby, I need a nappy”.
In addition, we have been taking him to swimming lessons since he was little and in January he progressed to the level where he was by himself in the pool. Transition was smooth and he would leave the classes saying he had so much fun etc. in the last month, he started to refuse going inside the pool. We have tried different times, different teachers etc, a huge meltdown each time if he goes in. Today he just refused again to enter the water but observed the lesson with curiosity and laughed watching his friends. At home, I asked him again why he didn’t want to go in and he then said he was a “small boy, not a big boy.”
I’m finding odd that the “big boy” topic is arising so often and always around situations where he is struggling. Anyone else experienced similarly and can share some advice?
For extra background: at the moment he doesn’t demonstrate any other development delays. Thriving in everything else besides the potty.