Featured: bad mother

I have talked with a bunch of friends and we all agree that 3 is way harder than 2.  You always hear about the "terrible twos" and I never heard much about the 3s. 

My kids just turned 4 and it has gotten easier but only just recently... still not easy - but easier

Hang in there!

Yesterday I went into the other room to put her brother down for a nap. When I came out she told me delightedly that she had been eating chocolate chips and cinnamon sugar. She was covered head to toe in the sugar and it was all over the kitchen. I don't think she ate many of the chocolate chips (she dragged a chair over to the counter and climbed up on the counter and went into the cupboard to get them) but she must have been eating the sugar fist over hand since it was about half gone. We talked about healthy eating and why that wasn't a good idea, but I feel like it is trying to tame a gremlin that has 8 arms. A nice gremlin mind you, just one that is into everything and fast as the dickens. And the tantrums! They had gotten so much better but then she started preschool and began sleeping poorly, so they are back with a vengence. It is nice to know it will get better.

It's a tough age. I have two 3-year-olds and I feel your pain.

Mine are 3y8m now and I do feel like in *some* ways it's gotten easier as we've started moving past 3.5. In some ways they are more "mature" now and when they're in good moods, they are absolutely delightful. At times I can reason with them--like explain why they can't do something and they'll actually accept the answer instead of just screaming at me--and they are so fun to talk to and watch them make friends, show empathy, etc. But it also seems like when they DO get upset, it's much more dramatic than it used to be and can take them longer to calm down, and discipline is more complicated than it was, say, at 2.