Sunday 13 October 2013

Terrible Two's and Three's

Oh my goodness!!!! I have just had one of those explosive moments. You know the ones. Where every cell in your body gets suddenly VERY hot, your blood pressure just shot through the roof and your stomach knots up like a prezel. It takes every ounce of your being not to totally lose your s***.

As you all know, I have two beautiful girls and am 11 weeks away from having another little person in my life... I love my girls and as a general rule they are happy, kind and sweet children...

However, there is a much darker side...

My eldest Miss 3 has decided (in the last two weeks) that she is going to do everything possible to induce labour early for me. Fun, fun. Today was another prime example. She has a reward chart, that I made up to try and curb some of this infuriating behaviour, when she listens to mummy and daddy and is a good girl she gets a sticker on the chart. After 10 stickers she gets a "prize" for being a good girl. We were on track today and I thought whoo hoo... PROGRESS! Then BAM! REGRESSSION. After sitting with her while she played. Keeping her happy and quiet (while Miss 1.5 slept), I told her I was just going to do some washing. I walked out of the living space, loaded the things into the maching, put in the powder and switched it on. I walked back out and could see Bella with the 3L milk bottle. I thought "oh no". I couldnt see it anywhere so I thought that maybe, just maybe she had only just managed to get it (even if I did think that the levels within the carton looked depleted). Then I heard it... drip drip drip drip... Uh oh... That was when I saw it. At least 1L of milk dripping from the top of her toy shelf into her toy boxes. Angry doesn't even cover how I felt...

This is only the most recent of bad behaviours... Late last week I took the opportunity of an early morning and good tempers to race to the shopping centre to do some christmas shopping (with 11 weeks to go I have to take all the chances I can get). I got there and it was like a switch had flicked. Miss 3 put it on. Racing ahead. Sneaking off while I was looking for a size. Playing with every toy she could get her hand on. Throwing herself to the ground to get away from me holding her hand. Having a tantrum. Then right at the end of the shopping trip, I was speaking to a friend and we were saying goodbye, when Bella suddenly darted to the right and up a step escalator. Now normally I would have just followed but prams don't go on step escalators and she was on her way... So I had to ask my friend to watch the pram (with everything I own and in addition to her pram) while 29 weeks pregnant I flew after her to retrieve her. To say I felt angry and ill was an understatement.

I thought that although she was a little testing through her two's, I was doing ok. We hadn't had many major meltdowns and she was reasonably compliant. Haha! Well that thinking bit me in the butt.

At the moment, she refuses to follow instructions, citing "no mummy" or "not right now". She is a runner, so although most of the time she will stand nearby and hold the pram, that has been going out the window (and she seems to pick checkouts and queues to run off). She watches EVERYTHING. I am sure B thinks that I must just lay on my bed all day, because she takes moments, like me ducking off to the ladies, to have a shower, put on washing, change nappies or wiping bathrooms to get into and do all the destructive things. We have had smeared "business", smooshed butter, spilt milk,  emptied cordial, spritzed cleaning sprays, tipped out bath bubbles,  spread toothpaste,  pasted peanut butter, wiped vegemite,  squished playdough, water all over the place, in things and just generally creating a MASSIVE mess.

I know that she will grow out of it but MAN... It definitely tests your patience. Then comes the hour after when you are still stewing on it and she comes up for a hug, or to ask for something and all you can think is "HELL NO".

Do you let it go and move on and just continue your discipline for every bad deed?
Do you remind her why she isn't getting the "bubbles" or "milk" or "tv"?

How do you deal with your Mr or Miss 3's???

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