Welcome to the troublesome threes!

When Noah had his birthday back in August, I thought great, we're past the terrible twos!  HA, no such luck!  In fact, the twos were a doddle compared to this!  Why don't we get warned about this?  We've all heard of the terrible two's, why didn't anyone warn us that the threes are worse?

Just this morning for instance, I go to pick up Noah from nursery and he's all happy and smiling.  We get outside and it starts off with him not holding my hand.  Fine I think, I will grab the handle on his backpack to stop him from running off.  But no, Noah doesn't like this, but he also won't hold my hand.  We carry on like this until we reach the point where we cross the road.  We stop and I ask Noah if we can cross.  To this he replies no, he wants to go to the park in the opposite direction.  Uh, no.  So now we have a sit down on the floor tantrum and let me tell you, a three year old is much more stubborn than a two year old!

I end up picking him up and carrying him over the road and further down the pavement, all with him kicking and screaming 'PUT ME DOWN MUMMY!'  Eventually I put him down and ask if he's going to walk nicely, but no, he's having another sit down protest.  We carry on like this until we reach the car park behind our block of flats, stopping a couple of times on the way.  Do you remember the days of putting the screaming kicking child in the buggy?  Well, they're all gone in the threes!  Let me tell you a three year old is pretty heavy and when kicking and squirming, it's pretty hard work to carry one!

As I said, we stop again when we reach the car park and by this time I don't have the energy or patience to carry him anymore.  So I put him on the floor and walk off a little bit.  I stop and look at him, to which his reply is 'bye mummy'!  I wait and I wait and I wait, but he still doesn't come.  I threaten to call the 'scary man' who's going to come and get him and still he doesn't come.  It starts peeing down with rain and we're both getting wet, still he doesn't come.  I give in and go to pick him up.  I carry him across the car park and to the block.  I open the door and wait for him to come in.  No 'bye mummy' is what I get.  To serve him right, I let the block door close, but other than screaming that he doesn't have the keys, he still refuses to come in.  I go to get him and he still refuses to come in.  In the end I pick him up again and carry him up the stairs.  I open our front door and carry him to his bed.

Well, this is where he really kicks in now!  We had a 1/2 hour screaming fit at the top of his lungs.  By this time, I'm pretty darn wound up and lock myself into the bathroom to calm down.  He comes banging on the bathroom door screaming.  I come out and he doesn't want me, he just wants to scream at me some more.  I end up going in the kitchen to make his lunch, so without speaking to him, I put his sandwich together, put a plum, packet of crisps and drink on his table and go back in the kitchen to make mine.  Yet another tantrums ensues.  This time over the plum, he doesn't want a plum.  Now I've got the neighbours banging on the ceiling at us, great!  I tell him fine, put the flaming plum in the bin, I don't care anymore.  To which of course he replies 'no, not in the bin'.  So I tell him to give it to me, I will eat the plum.  'No, Noah wants the plum.'  Well then flipping eat it!!!

Now, he is sitting at his table, having eaten his plum and the rest of his dinner and it's like the last hour never happened!  Aaarrrrgggghhhh!!  But still, I have at least an hour and a half now until the afternoon school run and it all starts over again!!

Jackie. x