My gorgeous little boy, my Little B,
my fantastic sleeper and eater,
polite but cheeky little monkey
has turned into a horror!

TerribleTwos- pffffttttt, the Threenager is real!!!

Oh my goodness!

This past month has been a tough one.
Little B’s behaviour has become horrible , he won’t sleep, he throws non stop tantrums, repeatedly whinges the same sentence, screams and hits out and is incredibly rude.

Luckily and touch wood this remains, but he only does this with me and B.
Everywhere else they still tell us how well behaved he is and he is thriving at preschool.

I’m not sure if its his age, the removal of the dummy, the imminent arrival of the baby or what, but he’s certainly been testing our patience.

Our parenting skills have being pushed to the limits, we’ve been trying every tactic.  Cuddles and talking to him about how we understand his frustration,
explaining things to him,
removing him from the situation,
taking favourite toys away
and simply yelling.
When he doesn’t sleep till 10.30 and you are getting no time to yourself,
before it being full on again the next day, it really can take it out of you.

Then he’ll do something so cute like say ‘Thank you mummy for my breakfast’, come and cuddle the baby bump or say ‘I love You’ while giving you kisses and cuddles and my heart melts and I can’t stay mad for long.
I remember why he is my world and why I would do anything for him.

It’s so important to us that he is happy but at the same time he can’t get his own way all the time.  Sometimes this is because it could physically or mentally hurt him, is unhealthy (chocolate is fine as a treat but only that all day every day??), you don’t have the time or you know what sometimes you just can’t be bothered.
We have tried to put in healthy boundaries but he is at that age
where he wants to see which ones he can push.

Some days we have glimpses of the polite little boy who eats his dinner and goes to bed on time.  The little boy that makes us chuckle with his funny voices, imaginative stories and great dance moves.  We think we’ve had a breakthrough and then the next minute he’s screaming blue murder because his car didn’t do the flip he had hoped.

Every night he goes to bed without his dummy now and hasn’t asked for it since the first few nights which is fantastic, but he can’t seem to settle himself and wants you to lie with him.  He is at the point now after almost a month of 6-8hr sleeps where you can see how exhausted he is, which makes him even grumpier during the afternoon/evening and you just wish he’d give in.  Some nights we are laying with him on and off for 3 hrs.  If we come away he screams, climbs over stair gates, comes downstairs non stop and we still get no evening.  With baby #2 on the way i was hoping to use my evening’s to chill for the next few months-its almost like he’s preparing us for whats to come.  I’m not sure if he’s jealous of the baby, he seems so interested and caring about it all already, though i’m sure a little bit of jealously will surface when its born and i am so aware of this.  I have already started to worry about LB feeling pushed out and am desperately trying to make the most of my time one on one with him now-im already feeling guilty.

I know everyone goes through this and I’m hoping this is all relatable rather than moany! Being his mummy is certainly the best thing ever,
but some days/weeks/months are tough!
Here we are amidst what feels like our first really tough patch,
since sleepless newborn unknown territory, that is!
Where i have no idea if i’m doing the right thing (i know I’ve been there before),
where i’m scared I’m a bad mummy,
where i realise how much i love him yet how mad he drives me at times
and how god damn guilty i feel about everything.

Lining up with Katie for this weeks Ordinary Moments-only 5 days late!

(The fowllanguagecomics illustrations just made me chuckle in these situations)