OMG - DS2 has turned into wild child. Is it the heat?

[sphil]

I've been posting a lot about Ds2's progress recently - but his behaviour in the last two days in the evening has been wild. He has

• pulled down the curtain rail in his room, once last night, once tonight
• emptied a pot of moisturiser and smeared it everywhere
• turned on the taps repeatedly so he can drink out of the cold tap (and yes, he did have a drink in his room!)
• tonight, put the plug in so that the bathroom has flooded and come through the kitchen ceiling.

Now DS2 has NEVER behaved like this - he is very passive and abnormally lacking in curiosity. He has never been though the toddler exploration stage - until now perhaps. Up until the flooding incident I was managing to stay quite positive, thinking of it as development. Standing in the kitchen with water dripping on my head has made me feel a tad less so...

Could it be the heat? Or is it that his surge in physical development (pedalling, swimming skills) is causing a corresponding surge in impulsive behaviour?

How old is he?

whatever the age really

Hmm, tricky one. My DS2 is like this when it rains, maybe the heat has the same effect on your DS2?

Has the heat upset his sleep? Could he be trying to get comfortable and cooler (with the water and cream? Ds ( never been passive)loves tactile things likes creams and water and he too is worse at present. We changed the overflow/ plug to a pop up type on the bath, -the advantage is that ds finds it hard to close the plug fully - we still get floods occasionally. Some drinks (eg containing sweeteners) increase impulsiveness for our ds.

I would say yes to the progress theory - difficult though it is. Can you let him burn off the curiousity at soft play instead ?

I've found that my two sometimes suddenly start doing the toddler things that they missed out on at the appropriate age. So my 6yr-old is now asking "Why?" all the time, just like his 3yr-old sister. He started the experimenting stuff about a year ago, including running the taps with the plug left in.

Ds1 always used to be very passive but this has decreased over the years.

I would say that it's probably progress with your ds2's development - not that it makes it any easier for you!

The strangest (and nicest) catch up thing DS1 has done recently is to develop separation anxiety ! He seemed to barely know who I was until last year but recently he has started crying and shouting 'Mummy Mummy' whenever he thinks I might be leaving. I do see a lot of behaviour in DS2 (uber NT) which reminds me of DS1 so I do think the slow development is a factor as well as autism (whatever that is !)

oh sphil, sympathy.

as you know, I've been having trying times with dd1 recently too - I really do think we should just move the pair of them in together and let the get on with it!

I know what you mena about trying to view it all positively. dd1 has now entered the "mine" phase of childhood - so I have both girls insisting wildy that each toy is theirs alone "give it back to dd1!" says dd1 "no mine! give it to meeeeee" shrieks dd2 back...

one thing that works reasonably well is plain old wearing dd1 out - she has recently got interested in bikes too (no peddling though) and so we go to the park for a good hour or so after tea - at least the shrieks seem quieter in the open air

Thanks everyone - I will try to see it as progress! He did have an ice lolly from a van on Sunday - full of additives as they all are, and as his diet is pretty light in these as a rule I wonder if that could be part of the problem. He's very cheerful though!

We have decided to put both DSes to bed later tonight - it's the hottest day yet here - and see if that makes a difference.