Gearing up
Sabrina must have heard the talk…or it is just hard wired in her toddler self. She will be 3 in a few months. Everyone talks about the Terrible Twos but most moms know to fear 3. Sabrina has moments of being spectacularly 2 – but they are thankfully few and far between. She is an easy, joyful, pleasant child 95% of the time. We consider ourselves pretty lucky. But this week, she is showing shades of the year to come. In the past 2 days, we’ve had 3 screaming, raging fits the likes of which I’ve never seen from her before. Fortunately, they have all happened at home so I can just put her in her bed to rage until she decides to get a grip. But I know that sometime in the coming year, I will be that mom in Target geting the looks of pity and disgust.
In Tessa news, she is constantly on the move. She LOVES to screech and have her sister screech back – it totally cracks her up. So I work hard to tolerate the screaming screech in the house because I love hearing them laugh together. Thanks for all of the food suggestions…we’ll give some of it a try. She sort of enjoys Sabrina’s extended fits because while she is out of commission, Tessa has free reign to play with all of her sister’s toys.
If you look, you can see her 2 teeth on the bottom. They are razor sharp.
Funny you mention Target, I was the that mom just yesterday. Serena was not listening at all while there and it got worse as we approached checkout. I gave the cashier the hairbands she wanted and a small plastic dog and told the cashier I wouldn’t be taking them. You know what happened next. Crying………loud. She wanted to make sure everyone in every line heard her. I explained to her about her behavior and why we weren’t taking those things but she didn’t care. Crying went on all the way out to the car. I was that mom but I couldn’t help but laugh knowing I was FINALLY that mom. Aaaaaaaahhhhhh, the many many joys of motherhood.
Oh, the 3s are such fun! I am so lucky – I have a 2yr old and a 3 yr old. So, what one doesn’t cover, the other one does. I am THAT mom in Target. I actually had a lady suggest I give my youngest some candy to make him happy. I just looked (ok, glared) at her and said, “we do NOT reward tantrums with candy in our family” and went on about my merry way. I can handle the tantrums way better than the helpful (not) suggestions.
he he he. I love our spirited girls. I keep thinking with Pilar that it can’t ACTUALLY get WORSE when she does turn 3. Can it?! Somehow though – she seems to usually limit her fits to while we’re home… can’t say that we’ve had many public episodes of acting a fool. And she’s very well behaved at school too. So – I take comfort in the fact that at least (for now) she seems to have a little sense left in her beautifully fiesty self.
Just be ready and willing to abandon any cart and stuff therein. I swore I would not be one of those mothers that let their child roll around on the floor and scream. I can’t tell you how many times I had to abandon groceries because of screaming. Of course the screaming usually happened when we were in a place where I was doing shopping for myself (art/craft stores). Of course there was the time that I desperately needed food and let the child scream through the store. I think we ended up with ketchup and cheese sticks.
Three is . . . special. Yeah, special. Mostly it’s fantastic, but when it’s not, it’s NOT.
Hang in there. It does get better and I don’t think it’s necessarily for the full year. I swear I think children know when you can’t take it anymore after a few weeks/months of whatever is going on and then they are angels for awhile. Very cyclical the way their attitudes are. And I agree with the commenter to be prepared to leave stores. That’s what we did with Phoebe and she liked being out so much, it was punishment for her too!
3 is definately more testy than 2. You get the foot stamping, rolling on floor tantrum and the “I do it myself” messes to clean up at the same time. Have fun, remember you prayed for this . . .
People always told me that three would be fun. I never really understood what that really meant until I was knee deep in it. Lily is almost 3.5 and it is getting better now… most days! Lucky me Charlotte turns two in just a few short months! WAHOO! Hang on tight Momma! 🙂
yea……..3 is definately much different from 2. i have found that it is kinda like spring………in like a lion and out like a lamb….we will see if i make it to 4!!
Yep we are going through the same thing. Our two’s have been okay but the closer Gabbie gets to 3 the worse it gets! We usually have 2 or 3 of those screaming, raging fits a day now. Sooooo much fun aren’t they:( Good news is at school she is perfect so at least I don’t have to be mortified in public!
Yup, 3 is “fun”. I keep reminding myself that this is a warm up for later. It’s all about emotions and learning to control them. Mr. N finally seems to be coming thru the “dark phase”….down to only about 2 meltdowns a day. Yeah! Too bad we’re heading right into that phase with Miss C. She’s going to be a whole lot of fun, as she’s already a very bossy/independent princess!
I try soooo hard to NOT be that Target mom! Works best if you only go without them 😉
At least you have some idea of what to expect! I thought I was on Easy Street because The Boy was an angel at two……..whoo boy! Was I in for a big surprise!
Oh boy, I can’t wait!
I was “That Mom” in the McDonald’s playplace the other day. Oh and then there was the hilarious(NOT!) scene of me in full streetclothes chasing my daughter into the water in the splash park because she ran away from me. Fun times.